Dear Hound

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Alfie the deerhound is a large grey puppy. He loves his boy Charlie, and cheese, and he’s very good at digging holes. But poor Alfie has got lost and he’s scared – of thunderstorms and being hungry and never seeing Charlie again…

Meanwhile, Charlie doesn’t know what to do – but one thing is for sure: he’ll never stop looking for his dear hound. Can Alfie ever find his way back to Charlie – and his great big squashy beanbag in the kitchen?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• The book begins with 11 facts about deerhounds. Could you create a fact file about a pet that you own, or about another animal?
• Deerhounds ‘have the most expressive ears in the dog world’. What does ‘expressive’ mean?
• Write a story about a different breed of dog. What are the special features of that breed and how could you include them in the story?
• Chapter One begins, ‘It was the start of a perfect autumn day… the sort of day when only good things should happen’. Write another story using this beginning.
• Lots of the animals talk to each other in the story. Use this to investigate the use of speech and speech marks.
• Different words are used to describe the ways that the animals speak (e.g. barking himself hoarse, yowled, said sternly, mumbled). Can you make a list of these? Can you write some sentences using each of them?
• Alfie meets lots of other dogs at Jenny’s house. Create a character profile for one of them, explaining what their life is like in their real home.
• Make a ‘Lost’ poster using the template (see Resources below).
• Think of some captions and / or speech bubbles for each of the illustrations in the story.

Science

• Find out about the animals in the story (Alfie – Deerhound, Sunset and Fixit – Foxes, Florence and Humbug – Cats). How are they similar / different? What do they need to survive? How do they live in their different environments?
• Design a meal for Alfie and the foxes so that they don’t have to hunt through bins. What food might they like to eat?

Computing

• Use a paint program or publishing software to create a ‘Lost Dog’ poster, which Charlie can put up around the local area.
• Use audio recording equipment to interview each of the characters in the story about their adventure.

Design Technology

• Design a machine that could help Charlie track Alfie if he were to get lost again.

Art

• Look at the ‘Deerhound Earstyles’ pictures at the front of the book. Could you draw pictures of yourself with different expressions which show how you are feeling?
• Look at photos of some of the animals in the story. Could you paint / draw your own pictures of these?

Geography

• Make a map which shows the locations shown in the story. Where does Alfie find himself at different points in the story?

PSHE

• Alfie and the other characters experience a range of emotions throughout the story. Can you describe how they are feeling at different points? Can you find words / phrases which describe this (e.g. heartrending howls… he laughed through his tears)?
• Alfie and the foxes become a good team in the story. How do they help each other? How do different teams work together?

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