harry the dirty dog & no roses for harry

One of the things I truly love about the books from my childhood is that they came from even earlier childhoods, so their illustrations and references are from another age. In "Waggles," the women wore hats, for instance, and everyone shopped at locally-owned Department Stores.

The "Harry" series is similar, both in plot and in cultural references. Written in 1956 and 1958 respectively, "Harry the Dirty Dog" and "No Roses for Harry" follow the misadventures of a lovable hound, but Harry is a dog who has a home with a perfect little American family, whereas Waggles was a vagabond.

We are introduced to Harry in "Harry the Dirty Dog." I will let it slide that I believe a comma would be appropriate in the title. Harry's adventure begins with a theft related to his dislike of bathing. He believes that if he steals the scrub brush, he will not have to have a bath. Once he has buried the offending item, he runs away.

Harry does not seem to be possessed of much logic or the ability to think through a plan, two things one would hope to find in a protagonist.

Harry plays at construction sites, rail yards, more construction sites, and coal chutes, turning from a white dog with black spots into a black dog with white spots. It is only when he is tired and hungry that he turns toward home.

Arriving at home, he finds that his hapless humans do not recognize him, thinking he is a stray. One has to wonder if they are merely playing stupid to teach their dog a lesson. One hopes this is the case, or one would have to wonder how Father holds down a job in the city, which he clearly does based on his suit and fedora.

It is only after he digs up the scrub brush and convinces them to bathe him that they see that it is their very own dog, returned to them. He is very happy to be home, but does not seem to have learned his lesson as he has again stolen the scrub brush.

I sense a sequel in the works.

And indeed, there are more Harry books, though I am only in possession of one: "No Roses for Harry," a tale of unlikely knitting.

In this story, Harry is given a birthday present from Grandma: a homemade sweater with roses on it. Clearly, Grandma is an accomplished knitter, and she spent some time on this creation. Harry does not like it because of the flowers. One can only assume that he finds it to be a bit sissy. When he wears it out, the dogs and people point and laugh (and bark). He tries to lose the sweater in the Department Store, but people keep giving it back to him. Why the children took it off him and let him carry it is beyond me. A convenient plot device, I suspect, but not very believable.

When he finds a loose stitch, he pulls at it. A watching bird eventually swoops down and picks up the loose yarn, flying away and unraveling the entire sweater.

I am willing to give the author this. I suppose it is possible that a bird could unravel a whole sweater from one loose thread if the bird was at least medium sized and the sweater was knit in one piece, which it appears this sweater could have been. I am not, however, willing to concede that grandma knitted this sweater from one long piece of self-rose-ing yarn. Nor am I willing to buy it that the bird then made the yarn into a nest that miraculously had the same roses on it as Harry's sweater.

It's a nice idea, and it makes for a clever story if one does not think about it too deeply, but, much like conservative talk radio, but it falls apart under the slightest scrutiny.

I won't give away the surprise ending, but I will hint that it is related to canine fashion.

All in all, however, the "Harry" books are enjoyable. The illustrations are skillful and charming, even though the humans have dead, black shark eyes. In these books, we see things from other eras like the aforementioned hats, Department Stores with everything right down to "flower departments," and steam locomotives. I will be tracking down the other "Harry" books to add to my collection.

"Harry the Dirty Dog" and "No Roses for Harry" by Gene Zion
Pictures by Margaret Bloy Graham