Shirley Hughes Quotes

“Annie Rose was hungry as well as tired. She began to cry. Then Alfie began to cry too. He didn’t like being all by himself on the wrong side of the door.”

“Then Mum was outside the door, holding Annie Rose, and Alfie was inside with the shopping. Mum’s key was inside too. ‘Open the door, Alfie,’ said Mum. But Alfie didn’t know how to open the door from the inside.”

“But then Mrs MacNally’s Maureen had a very good idea. She ran to ask the window cleaner, who was working up the street, if he would bring his ladder and climb up to the bathroom window. And, of course, when the window cleaner heard about Alfie he came hurrying along with his ladder as quickly as he could.”

“The front door suddenly opened and there was Alfie. He had managed to reach the catch and turn it-like that- after all. He was very pleased with himself. He opened the front door as wide as it would go and stood back grandly to let everybody in.”

” ‘Go and fetch your little chair from the sitting room and then you’ll be able to reach the catch,’ said Mum. But Alfie didn’t try to fetch his little chair. He just went on crying, louder and louder, and Annie Rose cried louder and louder too.”

“Mrs MacNally’s Maureen was a big girl. Right away she came and joined Mum and Annie Rose and Mrs MacNally on the top step. ‘Mmm, might have to break a window,’ she said. ‘But I’ll try to climb up the drain-pipe first, if you like.’ “

“Mum put the shopping down in the hall and went back down the steps to lift Annie Rose out of her push chair. But what do you think Alfie did then? He gave the door a great big slam- BANG! Just like that.”

“Once there was a soft brown toy called Dogger. One of his ears pointed upwards and the other flopped over. His fur was worn in places because he was quite old.”

“When it was cold he wrapped him up in a bit of blanket.”

“At bed-time he said: ‘I want Dogger.’ But Dogger was nowhere to be found.”

“Now and again Dave’s Mum said that Dogger was getting much too dirty. She showed Dave how to wash him in a bowl of soapy water.”

“Dave’s baby brother, Joe, liked hard things. He liked putting them in his mouth and biting on them because he was getting teeth.”

“At tea-time Dave was rather quiet. In the bath he was even quieter.”

“When Dad came home he looked for Dogger too. He searched in the shed and down the garden path with a torch. But Dogger was quite lost.”

“He had 3p but that wasn’t enough. He ran to find Mum and Dad to ask them to buy Dogger back at once.”

“At tea-time Dave was rather quiet. In the bath he was even quieter.”

“Bella kindly lent him one of her teddies to go to sleep with, but it was not the same thing as Dogger. Dave kept waking up in the middle of the night and missing him.”

″‘Wouldn’t you like to go in for a race?’ they asked Dave. But Dave didn’t feel like racing. He was missing Dogger too much.”

“Dave didn’t like that Teddy at all. At that moment he didn’t like Bella much either because she kept winning things.”

“And there, at the very back of the stall, behind a lot of other toys... DOGGER!”

“Dave tried to explain to the lady that it was his Dogger, who had got lost and somehow been put on the stall by mistake, but she wasn’t listening.”