Hairy Maclary, everyone's favourite dog, is busy chasing and hustling all the neighbourhood cats from Slinky Malinki to Pimpernel Pugh. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy became an instant favourite when it was published in 1983, and children today still love following Hairy's adventures.

My son's Daddy suggested this book as he grew up with it and our little boy loves it just as much as he did! Told through playful rhymes and watercolour illustrations, this hilarious classic story has delighted children for generations. Each dog has it's own rhyming couplet (eg, Hairy Maclary, from Donaldson's Dairy - Hercules Morse, as big as a horse) and as each extra dog joins we start the cumulative list again from the top, in the same way as There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. It was thirty years ago that a small black dog stepped out of the imagination of author and illustrator Lynley Dodd and onto the pages of a picture book. It’s a cushioned board back that won’t scratch if your munchkin decides to give it a good doggy chew.I don't see what makes it particularly special, other than there are probably not a lot of kids' books published in NZ. It provides them with an opportunity to learn a poem, a chance to make sound effects for Scarface Claw and create a change in tempo when they all run home to bed! She began to work as a freelance illustrator and collaborated with author Eve Sutton on My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes. The pictures and the written words together tell the story, and the illustrations and their meanings are as important as the text.

The Hairy Maclary books, despite their simple stories, introduce the listening child to some long but very expressive words, which are not part of the average preschooler vocabulary but must be understood by the child in the context in which they occur. Written and illustrated by award-winning New Zealand author Lynley Dodd, this series of twenty picture books has been around for thirty five years and is still going strong. The clever rhymes and colourful language make these books a joy to read aloud with lines like “Hairy Maclary felt bumptious and bustly, bossy and bouncy and frisky and hustly" and the rhythm and repetition encourages children to join in too.It has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and been translated into Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Swedish, Russian, Slovene [8] [9] - and te reo Māori. We don't have a dog at the moment (we have three cats) but we're currently planning to get a puppy for Fin's 5th birthday.

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy combines simple narrative storytelling with virtuoso use of rhythm and rhyme, and Dodd’s gentle but energetic watercolour illustrations depict characters that are as well loved as they are mischievous. This hilarious rhyming story follows Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy, as he sets off for a walk in town, followed by a whole host of canine friends. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy [1] first published in 1983, is the first and most well-known of a series of books by New Zealand author Lynley Dodd featuring Hairy Maclary. I have a little boy and love reading to him, so this reading list will cover the classic (and new) children’s stories we’re enjoying together.In this introductory book in the HAIRY MACLARY series, all the pooches-from big-as-a-horse Hercules Morse to Schnitzel von Krumm with the very low tum-meet their feline match. I think this poem invites musical accompaniment, it could be performed by dividing the class into groups of children responsible for being 'Bottomley Potts' or 'Bitzer Maloney' etc.