Madlenka's Dog

* Sis, Peter. Madlenka's Dog. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 2002.

When Madlenka takes her dog for a walk, the reader can't see the dog that pulls the leash and collar in front of her but everyone else she meets in the neighbourhood can, and they each see the dog differently. Peter Sis uses simple lift-the-flap additions in his illustrations to show each person's memory of themselves and a dog from their past, highlighting the switch in mode with different colour schemes against a predominately black-and-white page. Much of the complexity of the narrative resides in the illustrations themselves that offer the reader entry into the memory or imagination of each different character. Other than the central two characters, Madlenka and her friend Cleopatra, these representations of imagination or memory are the only aspects of the illustrations shown in colour. Early pages have only touches of colour, while the sequence of two-page spreads which dive into the two girls' imaginative play are dominated by colour scenes with black-and-white images of buildings on either side receding with each page turn, then re-appearing as Medlenka is called home. Text and image are inextricably linked throughout, with the simple text extended by a complexity of visual cues not often seen in picture books for young children.