Clifford the Big Red Dog

We first discovered Clifford in the early '90s when our kids were in kindergarten. They loved reading along in the car. So it was exciting to stumble onto this again - now our grandchildren are enjoying it.
Fun & Educational
Great for car trips

Sorry, because even though I'm a huge Clifford fan, this book doesn't really make sense. Teaching children manners just seems too strange when using a dog as an example. My three year old even thought it was odd. Using a favorite character like Clifford wasn't the right choice for the subject.

Unfortunately, the CD did not work. I returned the first one and received a second that did not work either. My CD player plays other CD's with no problem so I know it is not the player. The seller was very helpful in crediting my account but I was disappointed as I really wanted the backup for reading the book. The book, of course, was fine.

Clifford and Emily Elizabeth share a fun story with lively illustrations. Each page has a sentence or two -- just right for short attention spans. The Clifford stories are not great literature, but they are fun!

We love Clifford books- who doesn't!?

When you add learning proper manners into the big-red dog's story, it makes the reading even better! From the basics (please+thank you), to eating etiquette, to covering more complex mannerisms such as being a good winner (and loser), this book covers a lot of basic moral ground in a fun way!

I remember reading this book as a child. I recently bought it again at a garage sale in the area for my toddler. My daughter loves it and we read it before bedtime.

The story is simple and great for little children it is not overly wordy so toddlers will not get bored with it or lose their attention span. I enjoy the morals of the story as well how it is not easy to own a big dog and you will have a lot of fun as well as a lot of trouble from a big pet. The colorful pictures are a delight simple but genuine. My daughters favorite page is when Clifford is playing hide and seek with Emily behind the house.

We recently bought several other Clifford Stories on the store and have been pleased that they arrived quickly and our daughter is enjoying them. I recommend the small hardcover books for the smaller age children and the full size for toddlers and up.

Another great favorite for little people everywhere. I love Clifford and my children did as well. My school children did, too. Now I am sharing Clifford with a third generation. These read alongs are so wonderful for emergent readers and reluctant readers, too. I love how excited a child gets when they realize, hey, I can read. Clifford is the best. As one little child told me, Clifford is the bomb! I hope future generations of children will discover Clifford and enjoy him as much as my children both at home and at school have. Five stars.

This book is wonderful for young children. Physically, it is lightweight, which makes it easy for them to hold onto themselves. The pages are easy to turn, and in my household, that is a huge plus. I have an independent three year old whose goal in life is to do as much as she can without any help. This book makes her feel like she's a "big girl", since she can hold it and turn the pages without assistance.

The words on the pages are easy to see, and simple enough that early/young readers won't get frustrated. For parents reading to their children, you can easily see the words on the page even while your child holds the book in your lap or while sitting next to you.

This book makes for a fantastic reading experience overall. My daughter really enjoys the Clifford series. You should take advantage of the 4-for-3 offer, and also pick up Clifford's Kitten,Clifford the Big Red Dog: Clifford's Manners, and Clifford's Good Deeds. These are my daughter's picks of the Clifford litter!

The idea of having Clifford, the Big Red Dog, demonstrate good manners is full of potential fun. Obviously, we all hope Clifford has good manners, because the alternative is too scary to think about!
The book opens with this idea: "Everyone loves Clifford because he has good manners. I taught him myself," says Emily Elizabeth. You will probably want to reinforce the idea that manners are desirable by pointing out some of their other benefits, such as being the right thing to do, avoiding fights, making everyone feel respected, and helping everyone have a better time. The book emphasizes what to do more than why to do it. But parents and grandparents need to have some role in providing help with the social graces.
The book covers saying please and thank you, writing thank-you notes for presents, waiting for one's turn, picking up one's own trash, saying "excuse me" when stepping in front of others, not talking in movies, using a handkerchief when sneezing, sharing toys with friends, putting toys away, following rules (in playing tennis?), talking when angry rather than hitting, being a good sport (smiling when lose and not boasting when win), calling ahead before visiting, arriving on time, knocking before opening a door, wiping shoes before going in, shaking hands or kissing when greeting people, washing before eating, chewing with a closed mouth, not talking while chewing, helping clean up, and saying good-bye and thank you after a visit.
By having Emily Elizabeth support all of these behaviors and having taught them to Clifford, the book sets it up as an expectation that every child should do the same. That's a nice way to establish these practices as the norm, independent of a parent's speaking in favor of them.
The book's weakness is that some of the situations in the examples won't make much sense to young children (movie theaters, playing tennis, writing thank you notes before they can write, and visiting one's sister who lives in another residence). But you can talk about those, and add some new ideas into your youngster's life.
The biggest missed opportunity is that many of the illustrations could have been much funnier. Obviously, there's a fine line here that should not be crossed because a lot of slap-stick could undermine the messages. But just a teeny bit more humor would have tickled my fancy, and made the material more memorable and interesting.
After you finish enjoying this book with your child, I suggest that you think about other examples of good manners that you appreciate providing. For example, even in these egalitarian days, it's still nice to open a door, pull out a chair, and to compliment someone. What parts of the social graces do you most enjoy receiving? Be sure to pass them along, as well.
After you, if you please!

My child loves this book. It is simple, visually pleasing and has animals in it, particularly a big red dog who is very lovable. Read aloud thru the CD, children can enjoy it whenever they please if they can't read it themselves...a nice complement to a popular children's book. I do agree with the other review in that the narrator can read the tale a little quickly. However, my daughter reads all of her favorites so repetitiously that she already knows the story, so, in this case anyway, the speed doesn't make much of a difference.

The book is probably best suited for ages 4-6, and if you don't want to use the CD, it is great to read aloud to your children.

Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a children's book. The Mischievous Hare

Clifford is one of those literary creatures who adults find hard to quite "get." I am among those adults, but I have to admit, my children love all things Clifford and when his show is playing on the local PBS channel, its "must-see-TV" time for thekids.
This is the book that launched Clifford's career. Originally released in the late eighties, Clifford has grown into a children's icon. Norman Bridwell apparently hit upon a idea that resonates with children. Of course, most kids love dogs, red is a color that stand out, and I guess combine the two in a giant dog and you've got instant appeal to the toddler set.
I don't mean for that to sound cynical. Clifford's stories frequently contain good moral lessons for the children and most often revolve around the concept of "love" for one's pet and vice versa.
Oddly, in this, the first book in the series, there is no explanation for why Clifford is a giant dog (I've never sorted out how tall he actually is; sometimes he appears to be 10-12 feet tall and sometimes twice that height). Of course, my four-year-old could care less about explanations, she just loves him.

Clifford The Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
Audio version so I am not seeing the colorful pictures.
Emily has a dog Clifford. He's big and red. Her friends have dogs also, they come in different sizes and colors.
They have fun by playing games and the book tells you what games they do play.
We also find out what bad habits he has also...and we learn of the day he was in the dog show.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

Well, overall, this book has a great book jacket design and all (Felt coating on Clifford's body, golden print on the letter "Deluxe Collector's Edition", and most importantly, brief history on Norman Bridwell and how Clifford was created), but that's just about it. The content of the book is the same as the one you'll get when you get the regular paperback copy. Also, the biography did not cover a lot of other stuff, like Norman Bridwell's birthplace and the origin Emily Elizabeth, nor did it cover the TV show and the mostly-forgotten 1988 videos. But I guess they'll be better off printing a guide targeted at Clifford collectors if they wanted to stuff all that in. Also, methinks that [the price] is a little pricey, but then again, this is a book that's targeted at collectors. All things considered, the book is worth it if you're a Children books/Clifford stuff collector. If you're planning to get it and then give it to a toddler who knows next to nuts about collecting stuff, or if you're going to use it for a preschool/kindergarten library, best save the money and go with the paperback instead. It'll lessen the grief should the book get damaged.

The hype and "sound bytes" all center on Clifford, the Big Red Dog. Clifford is a big red dog, and, by virtue of his size, he does dominate the scene. But in actuality, the stories are about Clifford and his "owner", Emily Elizabeth, who devotedly loves and stands by here rater strange canine come what may.
These books have always appealed to kids. I have to admit that always seem to irritate me a bit. The stories, here and in the many other Clifford books, are just fine. Very sweet, with just the right amount of silliness. But the illustrations have always seemed second rate at best. The scale of the dog changes from page to page, the drawing is sort diffuse and scattered, the scene doesn't always seem to me to really fit the text, although, to be fair, the drawings are always bright an colorful.
On the other hand, these were written for kids, not adults and, as I say, I have always found them to be a hit with the kids. So, while this is not my series of choice, you definitely ought to give old Clifford a try.

I've never had much luck reviewing distinctly simple picture books like "Clifford". In the past, my observations of such books as the "Spot" series have been universally loathed by those parents who like their picture books sweet, simple, and relatively bereft of complexity. And "Clifford", sad to say, sort of falls into that category. But I hadn't read the books in years, and with the overwhelming popularity of the "Clifford" television series, I thought I'd give that big ole lovable red-tinged dog another go. So I went to the library, found myself a copy, and settled down. The book was pretty much as I remembered it. Simple words that kids can understand. Funny situations that a big dog can get into (chasing cats = chasing lions when your dog is big enough). All in all, I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. "There you go", I told myself. "You've been pooh-poohing this nice book all for naught". But you know what I really loved about "Clifford"? The killer illustrations circa 1963. They were great. The edition of the book I read was republished in 1985 and had all the classic elements of the genre. You meet Emily Elizabeth as she scoots up on a wicked soap box scooter. And those black and yellow striped socks of hers? Awesome! I also enjoyed how hangdogish Clifford sometimes looked. When Emily Elizabeth feeds him a cartload of cupcakes and tea, I loved his wide mouth and oddly disturbed expression. Yep. Sometimes the classic pictures are the best.

So I went to the store.com to write my I-liked-it-but-there-are-still-much-better-picture-books review. While determining which version to comment on (my copy was paperback but the only choices were board book or hardcover) I thought it might be wise to just make sure that the object I'd be reviewing looked the same as the current reissue. I mean, I wasn't worried particularly. Why would they change the original "Clifford"? Well I was in for a bit of a nasty shock. Thanks to the store.com's "Search inside the book option" I saw for myself how the mighty are fallen. They haven't just updated Clifford. They've radically redesigned him. No longer does Emily Elizabeth break out the classic shoddily built boxcar scooter. Now she's a pink wearing cardigan girl with remarkably boring white socks. Those kids who stared up at Clifford in horror? They're now grown-ups with better looking dogs. And Clifford? Well, let's just say he's completely lost his sometimes-mournful doggy expressions. This is a new streamlined Clifford for a new Millennium. I also doubt the "bad boys" referred to in the text look like the crew-cut poindexters I enjoyed so much in the original.

Now I know why this happened, of course. Times change. I mean, there wasn't a single minority to be found in the original edition. Now we have multi-ethnic couples looking up at Clifford with profound fear and distress. And that's not a problem. The problem I have is with the other updates. What was wrong with Emily Elizabeth's ever changing but always colorful array of socks? One minute they're green and black and the next they're pink and black. What was wrong with her soapbox derby or those oddly clean cut bullies? Ah well. The sad thing is that these recent changes, undoubtedly done for Clifford's 40th anniversary, took away a lot of the things that made the original book so much fun.

Not that your kids will care. They will still love Clifford as much as they ever had. They'll adore the idea of having their own house-sized mongrel to climb on and play with. And the fact that he's red is just an added bonus. It's a sweet book, yes. And it has a nice title character. But if you want my private opinion, the original's the best. It will not look 100% like the Clifford your kids see on t.v., but neither (for that matter) do a lot of the early "Arthur" books. There are better picture books for kids out there, but if you have picky children who only want to read books that have some sort of a connection to television, then you're not doing too badly with good ole "Clifford". The biggest, reddiest, doggiest pup there be.

Reading to my son, Joshua, has been a tradition in the evenings since he was too young to understand what we were doing. Now, however, at the ripe old age of three he loves to read with Daddy and picks his own books out each night, running through the hallway with selections in hand. Clifford always seems to be in the stack and Clifford the Big Red Dog comes back more often than all of the other Clifford books he loves. He enjoys finding Cliffor (and this is not very difficult) and laughing when I can't. From a reading enjoyment standpoint, this one is fantastic for kids. And if you are in a rush to get them into bed, Clifford is always a quick read.