Harry the Dirty Dog

Harry and the Dirty Dog was one of my favorite books as a child, maybe because I had a black dog with white spots...maybe because she liked to run away...maybe because she did not like getting a bath. Whatever the reason, it's still one of my favorites, and I like it even more now that it's available in a 50th anniversary board book edition!

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Harry is a white dog with black spots who hates getting a bath. He runs away from home and gets so dirty that, when he returns, his family doesn't even recognize him. The illustrations are sweet and the story is charming, although you can definitely tell it was written when the world was a simpler place. Like how the family lets a seemingly strange dog into their house to give it a bath... 

The original illustrations were done in black and white with olive green and a mustard-y yellow. I'm usually not a fan of updating illustrations for children's books, but this time they got it right (probably due to the fact that the recolorization was done by the original illustrator, Margaret Bloy Graham). She added muted blues, reds, and browns in small doses and in just the right places, making Harry's world just a bit more colorful.