How Dog Began

by Pauline Baynes

Prehistoric cave dwellers take in a wild canine and turn him into the world's first tame dog.

29 pages, Library Binding

First published March 1, 1987

About the author

Pauline Diana Baynes was an English book illustrator, whose work encompassed more than 100 books, notably those by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Pauline is probably best known for her illustrations in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. She was also J.R.R. Tolkien's chosen illustrator: her drawings appear in Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Smith of Wootton Major, Tree and Leaf, and after Tolkien's death the poem Bilbo's Last Song.

Pauline Baynes began her career with little formal training. After spending her early years in India, where her father was commissioner in Agra, she and her elder sister came to England for their schooling. When their father retired, their parents settled near Farnham in Surrey and Pauline, as the unmarried daughter, found herself looking after them during the day and trying to illustrate at night.

Pauline attended the Slade School of Fine Art, where her sister was completing a diploma course, but after only a year she volunteered to work for the Ministry of Defence, painting camouflage. However, since her kind of attention to detail and accuracy were skills essential for map-making, she was soon transferred to another department to draw maps. This experience was very helpful when she later drew maps of Narnia for Jack, and of Middle-earth for his friend J.R.R. Tolkien.

Over the years Pauline Baynes created many new illustrations for use on book jackets, as well as colouring the original illustrations. In 1989, she made a series of full-page colour paintings for two books, one called The Land of Narnia, and the other a beautiful, deluxe version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

She was awarded the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 1968 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to children's illustration.

Reviews

[James Son · Rating 4 out of 5]

How did modern dogs become what it is today. Well this book starts off with stating that dogs are descended of wolfs, but no one really knows how the first dog was tamed. However, the author has a theory. It all started thousands of years ago, when men and women would travel to find food. At the time, there was also a pack of wolves. During the night, while the people gathered around the fireplace cooking food, the wolves would also gather to eat the leftovers. Then one day a dead wolf appeared. Beside it was a crying cub. The people named it Curr, and let it stay with them. Then one day, the cave got on fire, with children inside! Curr barked, and the adults came running to stop the fire. After this, one by one, Curr showed its usefulness. It killed rats that came for grain. Curr also helped the people hunt food like deers, rabbits, and even mammoths. Curr not only saved one life, but two. After saving a old man from a giant bird, Curr looked and protected him from other predators, while the other tribe members ran off in fear. The dog led the old man back to the tribe, and people amazed called Curr a God. Curr, embarrassed, turned around. God spelled backwards is dog. Coincidence?

I really found this book to be very entertaining, while at the same time very informational. A lot of kids love dogs. So by informing kids, the history of dogs, I think is very helpful, while at the same time the kids could really get intrigued by it. I thought it was very smart of the author to state in the beginning that the story was her theory, because nobody really knows how the first dog became tamed. So this story might be true, and it also might not. However, I still think it was a good read. The way the story moved, and the way it was organized, I thought was all good. I really liked the ending. I never even thought of what dog spelled backwards was. The way the author put that in her story was really clever.

I personally thought the illustrations was perfect for the story of this book. The book tells a story of what happened many years ago, so I thought the black and while, cave drawing style, fit the mood and made the story more entertaining. Even without reading the book, the readers can clearly tell the story takes place many years ago, by looking at the drawings. The drawings really made the story more intense, and really put in the mood. Overall, I did not find any major dislikes to this book.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

My daughter picked this book out at the library and both of my girls and read and reread. Neither my husband nor I like the illustrations or the story. I think the people in the book are depicted as uncompassionate, ignorant, and inhumane. I like the concept of the story but it could have been better executed.

[Jessalyn Cipriano]

"How Dog Began" is an older children's book about how the author thinks the first dog came to be. It explains how cavemen first let wold wolves into their tribes. The book also tells the story of how humans came up with the name "dog."