Every Kid Wants a Dog as Big as a Horse and so Did Norman Bridwell: The charming true story of Clifford the Big Red Dog
- Staff
- May 5
- 5 min read
by #LizPublika
If you were born around or after the mid-1960s, you likely recall seeing the shelves in your school library stocked with books featuring a big red dog by the name of Clifford. There’s a good chance you were a fan of them, too. Funny enough, the man who gave the world the beloved character, Norman Bridwell (1928–2014), didn’t know exactly why people fell in love with Clifford, but he enjoyed watching it happen and was grateful for the life it gave him.
Bridwell wrote the first Clifford story, which eventually became an American children's book series that revolves around the adventures of an eight-year-old girl named Emily Elizabeth and her abnormally large pet, in just three days — when he needed a big break and had absolutely no idea that this was it. The first story about Clifford was the first story Normal Birdell ever wrote. As a struggling commercial artist in NYC, he was mostly busy trying to find work in his field.
It was 1963 and, felt Bridwell, time to expand his career into children’s book illustration. Clifford, who was referred to as Tiny, was a character conceived by Bridwell and inspired by his childhood desire to own a dog as large as a horse. It made sense to include it in his portfolio, which he was shopping around to over a dozen publishers in the city that never sleeps. It was then Harper & Row editor Susan Hirschman, who suggested he write an accompanying story.
So he did. He named Emily after his daughter, but Tiny’s name change was suggested by Norma Bridwell (Norman’s wife), in honor of her imaginary friend from her childhood. Clifford had a mom, two brothers, and two sisters, all of whom were average-sized dogs. He was actually the runt of his litter, but grew to his size because of the nurturing love of his human companion and friend, who rode him like a horse on their adventures together.
If you’re wondering what kind of dog Clifford is, and guessed him to be a Golden Retriever or a Mixed Lab like the majority of people, you’re wrong. The original prototype for Clifford was meant to be a Bloodhound, a breed that most commonly comes in black, tan or red. “Although Clifford was inspired by the Bloodhound, he has the characteristics of a Vizsla,” a breed of dogs from Hungary known for their hunting skills but most often kept as beloved pets.
But that’s not all Bridwell borrowed from real life for his stories. Clifford's fictional home, Birdwell Island, not only has a similar name to that of the Bridwell’s, but also visually resembles the family’s Martha's Vineyard home. As for why the dog is the color red, that has more to do with convenience than nostalgia; Bridwell later admitted that Clifford “was red because I happened to have red paint on the drawing table that night.”
Bridwell wasted no time trying to get his book published. But this, too, proved to be a struggle as the manuscript was rejected by nine publishers. But then he submitted his work to Scholastic, which accepted the submission three weeks later. It was published soon thereafter, and became a phenomenal success, a world-wide recognized symbol of children’s literacy, and — in good time — the official mascot of the company that helped Birdwell officially unleash Clifford.
There’s no denying that there is something special about Clifford, but timing may also have a lot to do with the success of the book series and eventual entertainment empire. It was released when other children's books, such as Dick and Jane, were beginning to be phased out by teachers in classrooms for using too many simplistic and redundant vocabulary words. These were replaced by books that told stories alongside colorful illustrations. And Clifford was it!
He was also highly relatable. Bridwell’s primary goal was to entertain children with his stories, but he was also insistent on producing books that offer an underlying moral lesson. That’s why Clifford makes mistakes and learns from them, faces challenges and deals with setbacks. He sets an example for children about how to understand the world around them and demonstrates how to have a sense of humor to better cope with it.
Bridwell was convinced that although Clifford was very, very large — though not always consistent in size — he should still be doing things most other normal dogs would do, which is why Clifford never adventures with the dinosaurs, travels to the future,, or explores the metaverse. But it’s also what made coming up with stories that much more difficult: “Every time I think of an idea, I think, ‘Well, that’s kind of like the idea that I did a couple of times before.’”
At the heart of it all, he wanted the dog to deal with real-life situations that children could relate to their own lives. "Norman Bridwell's books about Clifford, childhood's most loveable dog, could only have been written by a gentle man with a great sense of humor,” said Scholastic President and CEO Dick Robinson. “Norman personified the values that we as parents and educators hope to communicate to our children — kindness, compassion, helpfulness, gratitude."
The approach paid off. Big time. Not only is Clifford an internationally beloved character among preschoolers and parents, the books have spanned tons of offshoots, from six-episode videotape series to a 65-episode adaptation to a 39-episode prequel, and so much more. In other words, it gave Bidewell the life he wanted. Author and cartoonist Norman Bridwell died on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on December 12th, 2014. He was 86 years young.
Note* According to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History:
“His family generously donated over 90 objects related to Clifford to the Division of Home and Community Life's Education Collection, which chronicles the history of education in the United States from the colonial era to the present day. These materials capture changes that began in the 1960s in how to engage and teach children to read, both inside and outside the classroom.”