Starlight Book Review – Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians

Cover of The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith on a gray background |
Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1950s

Published 1956

4.1/5 After some serious, thought-provoking reads for the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC), I determined I wanted lighter fare. I discovered that Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians hit shelves in the 1950s. I saw a Disney adaptation of The Hundred and One Dalmatians as a child but had yet to read the book. I determined to remedy that by reading Smith’s book to satisfy my Back in the 1950s entry for this SRC.

“When Missis and Pongo’s puppies go missing, the two Dalmatian parents know the scary Cruella de Vil has had something to do with it. After all, she adores furs, and the Dalmatians have such beautiful coats… The dogs’ pets, Mr and Mrs Dearly, don’t understand them, so it is up to Pongo and Missis to rescue their pups.”

I consider The Hundred and One Dalmatians a charming delight. I imagine readers in the 1950s loved the whimsy of dogs possessing fantastic infrastructures and humans lacking. I enjoyed how The Hundred and One Dalmatians resolved, too. Cruella de Vil dazzled in a deliciously wicked way as the demented villain of this piece. If Smith wrote this book in the 2020s rather than the 1950s, I think she might approach some of how Pongo’s talk and address of Missis in a different way. I deducted a partial star for some parts that took the “scenic route” through this canine caper fantasy but regard this a a worthwhile classic to read in the Twenty-first Century.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.