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Clifford and Emily Elizabeth love doing activities together and taking care of each other. The "Big, Red Dog" is a beloved and highly recognized character to the preschool set.
Emily Elizabeth describes the activities she enjoys with her very big, very red dog and how they take care of each other.
After high school, Bridwell wanted to turn his love of drawing into a career. He studied first at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and then moved to New York, where he took classes at another art school, Cooper Union, for two years. He then went to work as a commercial artist. It was in 1962 while he was working as a freelance filmstrip and slide illustrator and drawing mostly cartoons that Bridwell decided to put together a portfolio of colorful drawings and make the rounds of children's book publishers. Now married, with an infant daughter -- Emily -- he was hoping to supplement his income with some extra work illustrating books.
Bridwell visited about fifteen publishing houses but there were no assignments to be had, and even worse, seemingly little hope for any in the future. One editor at Harper & Row went so far as to tell Bridwell that his art by itself was just not good enough, and she didn't think anybody would ask him to illustrate a book for them. But amazingly enough, she also made the suggestion that helped bring him the phenomenal success he enjoys today. She advised him to write a story to go along with one of his pictures. She picked out his sketch of a baby girl and a horse-sized bloodhound and casually said, "There might be a story in this," Bridwell remembers.
He wasted no time in taking her advice, but he did decide to make the bloodhound even bigger and more of an "all-around" dog -- much like the dog he had wanted as a little boy, one that he could ride and who would be a fun companion. Bridwell remembers speaking to the editor on a Friday, and "By Monday, I had done this little book about a girl and her dog," he says.
Now all he needed were names for his characters. "I wanted to call the dog 'Tiny,' but Norma (his wife) said that was boring and suggested 'Clifford' after an imaginary friend from her childhood," Bridwell says. The little girl's name, however, was easy. Bridwell named her Emily Elizabeth, after his young daughter. He dropped off his drawings and manuscript at Scholastic and tried not to expect anything. Three weeks later the phone rang. Scholastic wanted to publish Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Despite his (and Clifford's) success, Bridwell, like anyone who does anything creative, still can't always predict how others will respond to his work. In just a few hours on the night before he was to meet with his editor about a Clifford book that he had worked on for many weeks, Bridwell drew some sketches and put together the text for what would become one of his most popular books, The Witch Next Door. Bridwell thought he was just bringing along something extra, but The Witch Next Door, about a kindly witch and her friendship with her two young neighbors, was accepted for publication while the Clifford book was rejected. "That's the way it goes," Bridwell says, calling The Witch Next Door a "happy accident."
But what he has obviously learned and what he tries to stress to young writers is that rejection is not a reason to give up. "Sometimes you'll do something that you really like and no one else does. You'll feel terrible, but you've just got to press on and keep trying. If you like doing it and keep working at it, then someday you will succeed."
Anonymous
Posted August 30, 2002
We wanted to start our 3 1/2 year old recognizing some sight words, so when we saw this book, we were really excited! She enjoys using the magnetic letters to spell the three, four and five-letter words. The book goes in alphabetical order, with each of the letters starting a new word, with a total of 26 words. For example, ant, bed, car, etc. Since there are 28 magnetic "tiles" (an extra "f" so you can spell Clifford and a blank one), the author was limited to certain words, but most sight words don't have repeating letters anyway. This is a great book that allows children to manipulate letters instead of just pointing to them on a flat piece of paper. We recommend this unique, fun book to anyone who wants to help their child with beginning sight words.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 6, 2011
see above
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Posted December 6, 2011
I read it to my boys. They love it.
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Posted December 6, 2011
Grandson loves Clifford books as does his day care class
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Posted May 5, 2010
My 2 year old loves the clifford books and this is a classic!
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Posted July 18, 2009
My very young grandson loves Clifford. He's a very lively little boy, but he sits very still for this book. The colorful illustrations are fun for him to point out the big red dog. I'll be buying more Clifford books for him.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Clifford is the ultimate fantasy dog for kids. Clifford is easy for new readers to read.
As a child, I loved Clifford. I introduced my nephews to Clifford when they were young. Now I am reading Cifford to their kids.
Everyone loves a dog story & everybody loves Clifford.
Warning to parents: this is one of those "read it again" books.
Anonymous
Posted February 9, 2009
would buy again
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Posted March 30, 2004
The colors & Clifford theme are great. Because the words on a page re-use letters, children cannot complete the page without moving letters around. This is frustrating for my kids. The book would be more effective if there were multiple copies of vowels or if more thought had been placed into the words to avoid duplicate letters on the same page. The blank tile is confusing for the little guy while the older one assigns a single value (letter) to it.
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Posted September 10, 2002
I've written all six of my novels with the Clifford spelling tile system. Yes, each book took 14 hours for the rough draft, but I HAVE completed them. Expect to see them out on Bantam Books in the winter.
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Posted February 27, 2002
some times when he jummps inthe pond all of the water comes out.he is a very big red dog.
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Posted March 15, 2001
if you like cloford you'll love this book or if you have small children at home like i do than you have got to have this book.
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Posted October 29, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted November 2, 2008
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Overview
Clifford and Emily Elizabeth love doing activities together and taking care of each other. The "Big, Red Dog" is a beloved and highly recognized character to the preschool set.
Emily Elizabeth describes the activities she enjoys with her very big, very red dog and how they take care of each other.