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Dog-Eared Reads: Marguerite Henry’s Album of Dogs

By Wesley Coburn

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 09: Annie enjoys a story read by employee Glynn Jones at Lily's Kitchen Diner on November 9, 2010 in London, England. Opening for two months to help raise money for the Charity Dogs Trust - Lily's Kitchen Diner is open for doggy dining, relaxing with a book and tummy rubs. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 09: Annie enjoys a story read by employee Glynn Jones at Lily's Kitchen Diner on November 9, 2010 in London, England. Opening for two months to help raise money for the Charity Dogs Trust - Lily's Kitchen Diner is open for doggy dining, relaxing with a book and tummy rubs. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) /
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This delightful work from Marguerite Henry is well worth your time.

Children’s author Marguerite Henry is known for her books about horses, most notably Misty of Chincoteague, King of the Wind and Born to Trot. But she also wrote the story of Cinnabar, the One O’Clock Fox, and the work we’ll be looking at it in this post, the Album of Dogs. 

Published in 1955 as Wagging Tails, and illustrated by longtime collaborator Wesley Dennis, the book was reissued in 1970 as the Album of Dogs – the title most readers know it as.

The work consists of 23 chapters, most of which are one or two pages long, with a full-page color illustration and occasionally smaller pencil sketch illustrations as well. Each chapter is a short sketch or vignette about the breed, and some history or background of their origins or typical breed temperament.

The breeds covered are the Beagle. Boston Terrier, Boxer, Bulldog, Chihuahua, Cocker Spaniel, Collie, Dachshund,  Dalmatian, Doberman, Fox Terrier, German Shepherd, Great Dane, Husky, Labrador, Pekingese, Pomeranian, Poodle, St. Bernard and the Springer Spaniel.

The Pointers, English Setters, Irish Setters and Gordon Setters are grouped together in one chapter, and mixed-breeds get their own chapter as well.

The Boxer chapter emphasizes the breed’s trainability, looking at a pack of dogs trained to play basketball. and we learn how Henry acquired her dachshund editor Alex (more on this in her Dead Readers and Riders) and Dennis got his beloved Dalmatian Dice, to whom the book is dedicated.

We also learn about the breeding efforts of Louis Dobermann and the story of a Fox Terrier named Pepper from downtown Cleveland who could speak fluently in horse language, sharing gossip and neighborhood news with a mounted policeman’s gelding.

Readers also are treated to a letter written by a Springer Spaniel and the story of how the animal shelter in Green Bay was revitalized by the hard work of a boy and his father, and learn how a Pomeranian named Mustard Seed turned around the life of a polio-stricken teenage girl.

The illustrations are just as pleasing as the words themselves, adding even more enjoyment to the work as a whole. This would be a fantastic introduction to the world of dogs to add to your library.

Next. Breeds 101: Love those Labrador Retrievers. dark

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