Towser and Sadie's Birthday

Towser

by Tony Ross

Towser the dog tries to give his kitten friend, Sadie, the moon for her birthday as a token of their special friendship

28 pages, Hardcover

First published May 21, 1984

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Tony Ross is a British illustrator and author of children's picture books. He was a student at the Liverpool School of Art and Design. Ross has had quite a few occupations, such as cartoonist, graphic designer, art director at an advertising agency, senior lecturer in art and head of the illustration course at Manchester Polytechnic.
Ross won the 1986 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, picture books category, for Ich komm dich holen!, (I'm coming to get you! - Andersen, 1984. He was runner-up for the 1990 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject, for Dr. Xargle's book of Earth Tiggers.

Meet the illustrator
What is your favourite animal?
A cat
What is your favourite boy’s name?
Bill
What is your favourite girl’s name?
Roxanne
What is your favourite food?
Lobster
What is your favourite music?
Irish
What is your favourite hobby?
Sailing

Reviews

[Shannon D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Towser and Sadie's Birthday by Tony Ross is about a dog named Towser and his friend Sadie, who is a cat. It happens to be Sadie's birthday and she is very upset about not getting any presents for the past three years. So Towser asks her what she would like and was told that she would like the moon. Throughout the book Towser is trying to get the moon for Sadie but he can't. He finally gets an idea that he should give Sadie a white balloon and tell her it is the moon. Sadie takes her "moon" with her everywhere, but comments to Towser anything she notices weird about it. One night they were walking and Sadie notices the moon in the sky and asks what it was because she supposedly had the moon in her hands. Towser tells her it is the hole where the moon was. Finally, a Wizard came by and asked Sadie why she was holding a limp balloon. She replied that Towser thought it was the moon and not to say anything because it would really upset him, and besides she really loved it.
The age range this book is directed towards is kindergarten through second grade. The reason for this is because of the language being simple and that there were quite a few pictures. The art that is depicted in this book uses very thin, direct lines and shows lots of motion that is happening in the story. The illustrator does not focus on texture, but does focus on the bright colors that are used. I would definitely recommend this story for parents to read with their child because of the good qualities that are shown throughout, such as being generous, courteous, a good friend, and how to be grateful.