One of my favorite gifts when I was young was The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. I wasn’t aware there was a sequel and haven’t read it. In my opinion, Dodie’s version is a much better book than anything Disney did with their versions.
My original copy got dog-eared (pun intended) and lost the cover a few years after I received it. It was lost in a move. I re-purchased copies several times over the years as I would loan them out and never get them back. I last loaned out a copy a long time ago and my co-worker never returned it to me.
If you haven’t read Dodie’s version, you may be surprised at some of the differences. I won’t mention too many specific changes although a big one is the number of adult dalmatians is a key one. It changes a dynamic that was left out of Disney‘s version and missed what I think was a valuable point.
I found a decent used copy on Amazon a few minutes ago for a good price with free shipping. It was cheaper than the ebook version. I may buy a second copy as a gift. It’s for somebody who won’t be reading for a few more years. I also found a decent copy of Dodie’s follow-up book with free shipping on Abebooks. Again, the Abebooks price for a print copy was much cheaper than ebook versions on Amazon and other places.
I may do a book review on it once I get both books. It’s been long enough since I last read the first book that I don’t want to confuse what I remember from the Disney movies and cartoon with Dodie’s version. I haven’t read the second book so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
Ups Downs Family History 