#wpad July challenge - All time favourite book

ALL TIME FAVOURITE BOOK

I had to really think about this because there are always certain books that stand out but I'm going back.....way back to the first book I ever bought with my own money at a school fair when I was about fourteen or fifteen.  It cost me the princely sum of 6d, yes folks, that's old money!  The books is The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smith.  I have read this so many times.

I'm sure everyone knows the story of how Pongo and Missis fifteen Dalmatian puppies are stolen by Cruella de Vil  and how they are rescued by a posse of other dogs (twilight barking being the communication route - I guess dogs these days might use social media...sorry!) and escape across country with all the rest of the Dalmatian puppies waiting to be turned into a fur coat for Cruella .  They encounter many obstacles and once even disguise themselves by rolling in coal dust before they finally arrive home.

My paperback version is littered with little black and white illustrations, including a double page 'twilight barking' picture. Though the book has become dog-eared and some of the pages have come loose I cannot part with it. Over the years I have seen the film versions (Meryl Streep making a great Cruella) and I bought my kids the storybook and cassette tape version, but the original book is still the best, the one and only.