Dirty Dogs - Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Reading List
Written By Rebecca Grabill

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, illus. by Bloy Graham. HarperCollins, 1956.

Such a sweet story!

Harry the dog doesn’t like baths so he runs off and gets dirtier and dirtier until he’s no longer a white dog with black spots, but a black dog with white spots. His own family doesn’t even recognize him until he races inside, up the stairs and jumps into, of all places, the bathtub.

The text is simple, the illustrations childlike and happy and the twist at the end—Harry has his scrub brush hidden again—gives a smile. Children will see themselves in Harry and will enjoy his escapades while finding comfort in his finally coming home.

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Rebecca Grabill

Rebecca has been writing since childhood, her first book about a kitten published between homemade cardboard covers in second grade. Although she studied religion and philosophy in university, she continued writing, earning an MFA from Hamline University and publishing multiple picture books (no longer with homemade covers) and a collection of poetry with a variety of New York and independent publishers. She has also published a wide array of fiction, essays, and poetry in magazines and journals and photographs for Getty Images. She balances writing with homeschooling the younger of her six children, launching her young adults, church activities, and overseeing a small flock of chickens in rural West Michigan.

www.rebeccagrabill.com
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