Mister Dog

By Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrated by Garth Williams

Copyright 1952

This is a strange little book.  I am a fan of Margaret Wise Brown’s books and am striving to collect all of her published picture books.  There really isn’t much of a story to this one.  Mister Dog, whose name is Crispin’s Crispian, belongs to himself.  He lives all by himself in a cozy little house and does whatever he pleases.  One day, when out for a walk, Mister Dog comes upon a little boy who also belongs to himself.  He invites the homeless little boy to live with him. 

“Crispin’s Crispian’s was a conservative.   He liked everything at the right time – dinner at dinner time, lunch at lunchtime, breakfast in time for breakfast, and sunrise at sunrise, and sunset at sunset.”  

Fortunately, it seems the little boy is fine with the routine.  The two walk back to Mister Dog’s cozy house, make some soup, go to bed, and seemingly live happily ever after.  

I just finished reading a biography on Margaret Wise Brown called In the Great Green Room by Amy Gary.  Reading about her life shed some light on the meaning behind this book.  It was written soon after the death of Brown’s lover.  Their relationship hadn’t been a healthy one, with Brown being manipulated and belittled much of the time. It seems after her lover’s death Brown finally realized that she could belong to herself.  No longer was she controlled by someone else.  If this book mirrors her feelings at the time, she apparently realized that she could, like Mister Dog, invite someone into her life, yet still belong to herself and maintain her own identity.