Rereading: THE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIONS by Dodie Smith

Illustrated by Janet & Anne Grahame-Johnstone

The Disney film based on this book is one of my favorites, but the book itself is also well worth reading, and different enough to keep one guessing even if you’ve seen the film.

Pongo and Missis are a mated pair of Dalmations living with a mated pair of humans they own, Mr. and Mrs. Dearly, in London. Missis is soon to have puppies when an old acquaintance of Mrs. Dearly, Cruella De Vil stops by. A more dreadful person it would be hard to imagine, and she’s dead set on knowing when the puppies will be born, even though the Dearlys say they won’t be for sale.

The puppies arrive, and there are fifteen of them, more than Missis can feed. Mr. Dearly finds a stray female Dalmation who has been searching for her own lost puppies, and brings her home to help with feeding. They name her Perdita. The two female dogs become friends, and all is well for a while, but then one day, while Cruella keeps the housekeeper busy, all the puppies are stolen by two men driving a van. Pongo is sure this was Cruella’s plan. He goes to a nearby hill on their next walk and sends out a call for help on the Twilight Barking network, and the news spreads across London and the countryside beyond. Soon word comes back that the puppies have been seen in a large ramshackle estate house some miles out in the country. Pongo and Missis decide they must set off to try to rescue them. They face many dangers along the way, but are also helped by other dogs who have heard about their plight. When they arrive at the house, they learn it’s owned by Cruella, and find it holds not only their puppies, but dozens more all destined to become dog-fur coats. How can they get them all away from the two bad men and back home? It seems an impossible task.

Highly recommended.

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