They have created a team of friends for Dog in his bookshop, all of whom come from books. Yates is currently working with her publisher to develop Dog for television. 'I almost want him to be the spirit of reading a spirit guide.' 'He's sort of a blank canvas,' she explains. Yates says it's because she wanted children, or anyone reading the books, to make Dog their own. Yates is often asked why Dog's character is fairly undefined - he hasn't been coloured in, he seems ageless, and does not have a name. So he looked child-like but also ageless, he was wise and also appealed to adults.' Once I turned that into a standing figure a toddler shape emerged with the narrow shoulders and pot belly. 'Jack Russells also have this lovely barrel-shaped body and a little tummy. 'The ears have been very useful in illustration terms because you can use them to express his mind and it helps readers to read him as a character and to develop a bond or interest in him,' Yates explains. Reading is like going for a walk, it's a step along each way and you don't know where it's leading next.'ĭog is very loosely based on a Jack Russell, then, with floppy ears. 'I started working with the idea of dogs being man's best friend as are books - you get a companionship from books and reading. He was thoughtful and quiet and very attentive to everyone.

She says, 'I hadn't grown up with dogs and wasn't necessarily that fond of them but this particular dog changed my mind. Louise Yates says that the inspiration for Dog came from a real dog that belongs to her parents. In his latest story, Dog can't get to sleep and counting sheep doesn't help, so he joins some characters from his book and they head off on a counting expedition.

Author linkĭog Loves Counting is the third picture book in the series about Dog, a character who loves books and reading, created by author and illustrator Louise Yates. As well as illustrating, she practises other forms of painting and drawing, and in 2010, won the Prince of Wales'Award for Portrait Drawing at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters' Annual Exhibition. Louise read English at Christ Church, Oxford, and studied drawing at The Princes Drawing School, London. Louise's latest book DOG LOVES DRAWING has just been shortlisted for the RED HOUSE CHILDREN'S AWARD 2013. In the UK, Dog Loves Books won the 2010 Roald Dahl Funny Prize and was nominated (along with the more recent FRANK AND TEDDY MAKE FRIENDS, 2011, and Dog Loves Drawing, 2012) for the Kate Greenaway Medal. DOG LOVES BOOKS followed in 2010, debuted as a New York Times bestseller and went on to win the Parents' Choice Award in the US. Her first book A SMALL SURPRISE, was published by Random House in 2009.

Louise Yates writes and illustrates children's books.

Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates