Through books, children can comfortably confront the many faces of fear. In Black Dog by Levi Pinfold, that face is ferocious and furry…

What is Black Dog by Levi Pinfold about?

The Hope family wakes one morning to find a large black dog outside the kitchen window. It’s watching them – and it seems to be growing.

Soon it’s peeping right into their attic and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. Nothing, that is, until the youngest, Small Hope, decides to take a stand.

Armed only with a courageous heart and a strong sense of mischief, Small leads the dog a merry dance across the park.

Why teach with Black Dog by Levi Pinfold?

The multi-award-winning Black Dog is a story about fear and bravery and many other things besides. Tightly written and evocative, the text appeals to older children as well as younger ones, but it’s the illustrations that really set this book apart.

Full-page tempera paintings bring the household interiors and landscapes to life in a way that recalls medieval Northern European art, while a series of sepia vignettes adds graphic-novel depth.

Entertaining and visually sumptuous, yet possessing a depth that appeals to children right across KS2, Black Dog by Levi Pinfold makes a rewarding starting point for creative investigations and responses of all kinds.

Carey Fluker Hunt is creative projects manager at Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle upon Tyne. Find out more about Seven Stories at sevenstories.org.uk

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