Scruff by Alice Bowsher

Scruff – at a glance

The School Reading Lists’ five word review: nourishing and hilarious twenty minutes.
Children’s book title: Scruff.
Children’s author: by Alice Bowsher.
Genre: Children’s picture book.
Illustrated by: Alice Bowsher.
Published by: Cicada Books.
ISBN: 9781908714787
Recommended for children aged: 3-7.
First published: Hardback August 2020.
This children’s book is ideal for: sharing with your four-year-old.



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Our review:

Many years ago, on a family holiday in France, my daughter, then four, saw a picture book in a shop and insisted we buy it. Reading it with her later she was fascinated by the new sound of the French in which the captions were written. When I suggested doing the rest in English she said, ‘No. French.’ Even though she couldn’t understand it.

Scruff spread

I saw immediately that reading to a child is about much more than the words and pictures.

Scruff spread 2

I was reminded of this while looking at Scruff.

Scruff spread 3

Our verdict

The bold, direct drawings, the jokes and observations (all dogs look like their owners, and vice versa) promise a nourishing and hilarious twenty minutes shared with your four-year-old, although it might be a mistake to impose too strict an age-limit here; when this lock-down is gone I’m going to try it on my two-year-old grandson. I’m sure he’ll love it and that it will be part of our reading-repertoire for a good while yet.

Many thanks to Cicada Books for a review copy.

If you like this book you might also like Elmer by David McKee, Pirates Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort, There’s a Monster in Your Book by Tom Fletcher, The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field Fly Flies by Ziggy Hanaor and Alice Bowsher.


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About Laurence Inman

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Laurence is an actor, poet, short-story writer, playwright, screenwriter, cartoonist, public speaker, retired lecturer, and former English teacher. IMDb | Linkedin | Reviews by Laurence Inman