The Dog Walk

By Sven Nordqvist. Published by Floris Books.

Hardcover, 32 pages, Colour, 2021 (originally published in Swedish in 2018)

It's time for Grandma's dog to go for a walk. The eager pooch tugs the boy's hand, excited to get going. But where will they end up?

This is a dog walk like no other, through amazing fairy-tale worlds, paintings come to life, Escher-esque castles, an intricately cluttered antique shop, and past countless delights: walking teapots, miniature steamboats, giant hedgehogs and islands with sails.

This fantastical story of a dog and a boy is told simply through weird, whimsical and often hilarious illustrations. Children will pore over each page, delighting in the incredible details. Each reading will bring fresh discoveries and new twists to the tale.

Beloved Swedish children's illustrator Sven Nordqvist unleashes his endlessly inventive talent in this funny and satisfying wordless book. Walking the dog will never feel the same again.

'Amusement abounds in the mixture of modern and historical aesthetic elements, Alice in Wonderland variety in proportions of the fantastical beasts and people, and tiny, expressive faces.
The perfect choice for a rainy day for readers and nonreaders alike.'
-- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

'It begins straightforwardly enough: a child takes grandma's dog for a walk. Suddenly, everything changes - it's like Alice in Wonderland and M.C. Escher teamed up to make a wordless picture book. An incredibly intricate and dreamlike journey.'
-- School Library Journal's list of The Most Astonishingly Unconventional Books of 2021

'Descriptions for each page of this wordless story could merit a full-page review. Sven Nordqvist of Findus and Pettson fame has created a book that could be pored over and examined many, many times, each time discovering something new. (I used a magnifying glass to view the tiny, tiny figures)... Really you have to see this book; it defies description as the little girl and the dog travel to every imaginable fantasy world and back home to the old lady.'
-- Youth Services Book Review, 5 stars