Sally Rippin (text) & Lucinda Gifford (illustrator), Big Dog is a Big Help, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, August 2023, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761210839
Big Dog is such a big help when his family goes camping. He can fetch and carry, help with the cooking, and show Little Dog where to find all the best, soggy, muddy treasures. So why is everyone so upset with him? When Little Dog goes missing, though, Big Dog shows just how helpful he can be in finding Little Dog again.
Life with pets and kids and families is frequently chaotic and messy, and I’m sure there are going to be more than a few readers – both kids and parents – who are going to identify with Big Dog and Little Dog romping through the pages with a trail of destruction in their wake.
At its simplest level, Big Dog is a Big Help is a fun and funny story from Children’s Laureate author, Sally Rippin, along with Lucinda Gifford’s delightful and lively cartoon-like illustrations about the shenanigans of two dogs. It’s a sure hit for any dog-loving young reader from ages 3 to 5, and for anyone who’s been camping with their family, this story is going to raise a laugh, and possibly an amused groan, of recognition.
At its most complex, this can be read as a story about family dynamics, for anyone who chooses to dig deeper. One of the things I love most about this book is the layers going on between the text and illustrations. The text tells one story, showing us what going camping with the family is like through Big Dog’s eyes, and the illustrations give us yet another layer in the joyous and exuberant reactions of the dogs to everything. And then there is another layer in the reactions of the people around the dogs. This feels very much like seeing the same interactions from the different perspectives of the children and the adults in a family, and was thought-provoking to read as a parent. Reading it as a child, there is the underlying message that even when it feels like their best attempts at helping go wrong, they are loved and there are more important things than a smooth-running campsite.
So enjoy it for the fun, or love it for the deeper messages, but readers young and old are going to have a good time with Big Dog and his attempts to help.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
