[Poll Book Tally] The One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith (the original one) 4 stars

[Karin]

Now THIS is the book I remember from when I was a child--not the abridged junky version Disney puts out. It is well done and we can clearly see where Cruella gets her surname, etc. The writing is better and there are those few little word plays for adults (such as when puppies eat up all the food at Hell Hall and there is only coke (fuel) left, so one of the dog parents says "Let them eat coke" (not about the puppies, of course).

The sad thing is how difficult this was to get--my library system has only ONE copy of this, printed by Avon. The drawings inside are the original ones, but the cover art is by Disney. The many other copies are various shortened versions rife with Disney illustrations.