Little White Dogs Can't Jump

by Bruce Whatley

Smudge and his family have got a problem to solve - Smudge's legs are so short that he can't jump into the car! One of the children in the family devises a series of ingenious ways of getting Smudge into the car, but none of them work. Finally, it is Mum who solves the problem. Ages 5+

Smudge and his family have got a problem to solve - Smudge's legs are so short that he can't jump into the car! One of the children in the family devises a series of ingenious ways of getting Smudge into the car, but none of them work. Finally, it is Mum who solves the problem. this is the book for all those who fell in love with the Ugliest Dog in the World and have been wondering what became of that irresistible creature. Ages 5+

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Dogs, Humor, Storytime

32 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2002

About the author

Bruce jumped into the unknown world of picture books after a career in advertising as an Illustrator and art director working in London then Sydney. Since 1992 Bruce has written and/or illustrated over 80 children’s picture books. Though based in Australia his work is published internationally and in 2014 was included in the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Exhibition.

His award winning titles include The Ugliest Dog in the World, Looking for Crabs, Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase, Diary of a Wombat, The Little Refugee, Flood, Fire, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda and Cyclone.

His main inspiration has been his family, who feature in several of his earlier picture books, his wife Rosie Smith being co-author on many of his projects. He uses a variety of illustration medium including gouache, pen and ink, pencil, oils, watercolour and more recently CGI software. His aim is to entertain and surprise the reader with illustration styles that vary considerably depending on the text and the age group of his audience.

Bruce completed his PhD, in 2008 Left Hand Right Hand: implications of ambidextrous image making looking at the image making of the non-dominant hand discovering that in most people the ability to draw lies in using the ‘other’ hand. He has since illustrated 3 books with his non-dominant left hand.

Bruce is continually looking for new innovative ways to make images to tell his visual narratives.

Reviews

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor pug (Indy thinks this opposed to a bulldog) is too short to jump in the family car. My rating would be two stars, though Indy kind of liked it, and that's what it's all about.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute book about a bulldog.

[Dee-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

attended a national reading day where all libraries around Australia read from this book to young children and others (inc myself) at the same time (10.30am 26 May 2010 Darwin NT time). This is a great little kids book, very funny and imaginative. Good fun book for young children ... and the young at heart. Cute pictures, not sure about how the way the problem is solved ... bit extreme, but then again so is a lot of the book.

[Dimity Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and expressive giving young children a sense of expectation and problem solving as the narrator endeavours to get her dog into the family car. The bull terrior height pov of the illustrations allow us to fully apprecitate the hither untold emotion of the little white dog in question. Hilarious.

[Nicole Sandford · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son picked this book and really enjoyed. Grade 1.