Dumpling

by Dick King-Smith

Dumpling wishes she was long and sausage-shaped like her two brothers and other dachshunds, instead of being short and stumpy. One day she goes to the woods and meets a witch's cat who grants Dumpling her wish, but the spell goes wrong and Dumpling gets longer and longer! She's very happy to return to her own shape again.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 1995

About the author

Dick King-Smith was born and raised in Gloucestershire, England, surrounded by pet animals. After twenty years as a farmer, he turned to teaching and then to writing children's books.

Dick writes mostly about animals: farmyard fantasy, as he likes to call it, often about pigs, his special favorites. He enjoys writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they get enjoyment from what he does.

Among his well-loved books is Babe, The Gallant Pig, which was recently made into a major motion picture, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Dick lived with his wife in a small 17th-century cottage, about three miles from the house where he was born.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has pictures to accompany the text but they aren't the main method of storytelling. The book is suitable for children in Year 2 and above and it would also be suitable for shared and guided reading. It's about a dachshund puppy who is shorter than her siblings and she wants to grow longer to be like them. However, when the cat casts a spell to grant her wish she doesn't like it and asks to go back to being short. The story could be used in drama for hot seating Dumpling.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dumpling is a sausage dog that is unusually short. Her siblings, Joker and Thinker who are long like other sausage dogs, mock her, which makes her feel even worse. One day she goes for a stroll and comes across a witch’s black cat. She befriends the cat and explains how she wishes she could be long. The witch’s cat, a magical cat, uses a spell and much to Dumpling’s excitement, turns her long. Dumpling, now a long sausage dog, walks off however she finds it’s harder than she thought. With her legs further back than normal she keeps tripping over things, and when she walks around a tree she finds she can see her tail and bumps into it. She finds that the one thing she wished for is awful and all she wants is to be short again. The witch’s cat turns her back to being short and Dumpling is happier than ever, proud to be different from her siblings and other sausage dogs.

I used this text in year 3 to write book reviews and I found it to be suitable for this age range as they could read it well and were able to deconstruct words phonetically if they didn’t know what they were. This was a good book for reviewing, as the moral was useful for this particular class as there were issues of getting along with each other. I really like this book as the illustrations are also very helpful in aiding children’s reading and understanding of the text and the children really enjoyed them.

I found this a really useful text to have along with other Dick King Smith books as they held a strong message that the children were able to grasp and apply to themselves. I would have this in the classroom for independent reading but also guided reading and knowledge retrieval skills. I used this as curriculum support for literacy with elements of PSHE however I think this text could easily support a discrete PSHE lesson as well especially with a class that aren’t getting along.

[Charlie]

Very good

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

271 - 2017

[Cheryl A.]

Not Found. Prolific Author.

[Madeleine Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A firm favourite from childhood.

[Joanne Adedo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dumpling tells the story of a Dachshunds who feels as if she does not belong. Dumpling is one of three siblings. As the siblings have grown, Dumplings brothers have grown long and their noses have moved further away from their tail-tips. Just like Dachshunds do. However Dumpling did not grow, she stayed short and stumpy. Dick King – Smith tells the story of a young dog on a journey to understand what it truly means to belong.

Dick King – Smith portrays a good message in the book about appreciating who you are and where you come from. It helps readers to understand the importance of being happy within yourself and not to concentrate on opinions of others. I enjoyed reading the book as I felt it had a very good message. A situation which many children go through. I would recommend the book to children between the ages of 5 – 7 for developing readers. Dumpling can be used to teach children about acceptance in the form of role play.

[Tracey Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book about a sausage dog believing she is different from her friends and sibling. Dumpling wishes she was long and sausage-shaped like her two brothers and other dachshunds, instead of being short and stumpy. One day she goes to the woods and meets a witch's cat who grants Dumpling her wish, but the spell goes wrong and Dumpling gets longer and longer! She's very happy to return to her own shape again and soon realises she is perfect the way she is. A pleasant story to use in PSHE for children to understand that it is okay to be different.

[KP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, great use of language, nice pictures.