Ben Fogle is a broadcaster, adventurer and co-author of the Mr Dog fiction series, where friendly Mr Dog meets and makes friends with lots of different animals. Cesar is a well known brand of dog food aimed at small dogs, but few people who buy Cesar for their dog realise that the brand was originally named something very different, something aimed specifically at male dogs, or stud dogs, rather than bitches. Anyone who’s owned a small dog however, will know that they do in fact bear a resemblance to a Roman Emperor at times!

I wasn't a huge fan of this book as a kid. It was in a large anthology of Little Golden Books. (I have no idea how that anthology came to our family, now that I think of it). I may have been in middle school before I read it. Reveal the secrets of the evil family! Find out why Granny and Grandpa were chasing you and your friends. After you had successfully escaped from Granny and Grandpa and were passing Mr. Dog’s house, you noticed that the fat man had caught one of your friends after all. Mr. Dog is that same policeman, Granny and Grandpa’s son. You’ve got to get inside his mansion and help your friend to escape. Keep in mind, however, that the process is not going to be easy. Mr. Dog’s house is a true prison — and escaping from prison has never been easy. It’s the dead of night, there are no neighbors around, and there is no point in calling the police. But your friend is counting on you to save him! So hurry up! Yet for all the peculiarities (and there are a LOT of them), Mister Dog has a very valid message. Its subtitle is “The Dog Who Belonged to Himself”. He answers to no human family and asks nothing of the state. He is clearly a classic conservative lover of small government. Mister Dog is about Crispin's Crispian (aka Mister Dog) who belongs to no one. He befriends a little boy who belongs to no one and they decide to live together in the dog's 2 story doghouse. (I want to sleep in Mister Dog's bed, it just looks so comfy!)Margaret Wise Brown died the same year this was published, and I can’t decide if she was an eccentric genius or a nut-job. She is best known for Goodnight Moon, which was haunting and strange, but Mister Dog is at least a little warmer, thanks to Garth Williams’ fun illustrations. Williams was probably best known for illustrating the classic versions of Charlotte’s Web and the Little House on the Prairie series.

Dictionaries & language learning Col 1 Dictionaries Paul Noble Easy learning languages Free dictionary resources This half term read an exclusive interview with Michael Rosen and an extract from his new book Read Half term special with Michael Rosen nowThe moral of this story is clear: your life is your own, and don’t let anyone else rule it. Mister Dog belongs to himself. The boy belongs to himself. They both act on free will. If the boy can be easily convinced to come and do chores then, hey, that’s just Mister Dog’s good fortune. Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading. The only way I would recommend Mister Dog is in the " Hey, you want to see a really strange book?" kind of way. I haven't read this to my kids, and I don't plan to. I remember their reaction to But No Elephants. I'm not bringing them down that road again. Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Even though she died nearly 70 years ago, her books still sell very well. Mr Dog loves meeting and helping other animals. How many mini beasts can you find near your home? Try the Mini Beasts Challenge to have a go!

This book is really cute and a little weird at the same time, but a good weird! A warning to some parents, it is like Curious George and has animals smoking tobacco pipes lol. If you loved watching Ben read Mr Dog and the Faraway Fox, why not try out these Mr Dog activities! There's a Mr Dog drawing and colouring activity, a word search, dot-to-dot and a maze puzzle too! How many Mr Dog related words can you find in the word search? For all of Margaret Wise Brown’s oddities, I think she knew how to tap into the brain of a child. The word “belong” resonated with me. As a child, I heard it often. I “belonged” to my parents and my friends “belonged” to theirs. “Who does such-and-such belong to?” adults would ask each other. This never sat well with me, for I felt that nobody owned me. This is the child-like mindset Brown exploits (and which Mister Dog then exploits with the little boy).

Try the Mr Dog activities!

After much searching, I finally found the first book that emotionally screwed me over and left me seeking happiness in this cruel, cruel world. But the best part is when we are told that Mister Dog is "a conservative". That is a direct quote. And note the italics. It is a word that Margaret Wise Brown wishes to define. “He liked everything at the right time – dinner at dinner time, lunch at lunchtime, breakfast in time for breakfast, and sunrise at sunrise, and sunset at sunset. And at bedtime he liked everything in its own place – the cup in the saucer, the chair under the table, the stars in the heavens, the moon in the sky, and himself in his own little bed.” Then they went to a butcher shop – "to get his poor dog a bone," Crispian said. Now, since Crispin’s Crispian belonged to himself, he gave himself the bone and trotted home with it. Reference Col 1 Times Books A-Z Astronomy Gardening National Parks National Trust Books Road Maps & Atlases World Atlases