Tohby Riddle is an author and illustrator whose background spans a range of art styles, from fine acrylics to cartooning. Though he has many picture books to his name, it is hard to view anything as ‘Riddle-esque’ as he deploys his range in different ways with each new release. Cynthia is a Wild Dog explores ‘the potential of simplicity’, according to Riddle, and the result is a delightfully funny example of the power of ‘less is more’. Despite a restrained colour palette, uncluttered spreads, and few words per page, the reader enjoys rich character development and witty storytelling. For those seeking examples of effective picture book creation 101 – this is it.
For Cynthia is a wild dog, you see. She runs free through open fields and deep woods. She hunts anything that moves. She is a ruthless predator, a lone wolf, an outsider. Or so she’d like to think. As this harrowing narration unfolds, the reader watches the wide-eyed pup, in her natty pink sweater, attacking nothing but sticks and chasing the odd butterfly in a green suburban park. Look carefully at the opening spread and you’ll see the family car, almost out of frame, having released the pampered pooch for playtime. The family eventually reclaims their fearsome canine with a call of ‘Time to go home, honeybun’, before we see Cynthia curled up in the gentle evening light with her toys.
This book will be beloved for bedtime reads, and the straightforward vocabulary and large, sans serif font is ideal for reading development. The difference between the verbal and visual storylines can be useful for teaching media literacy, or perspective. Even the gentle pink of the endpapers can be ‘read’ as one of the indicators of ironic storytelling.
And, if you want to go deeper, this is a story about self-awareness and the differences between the ways in which we see ourselves, and others see us. It could be a metaphor for longing for the extraordinary in an ordinary life, or a celebration of imaginative play. It is also just very funny and makes me long for a Cynthia series! But that, of course, would defeat the purpose of this elegantly simple work of art.