Where's Spot?

Story

A lift the flap book. A mother dog looks for her puppy all over the house and finds lots of other hiding animals before she finds Spot.

Why we chose it

Children love hunting for Spot and lifting the flaps to see who’s there. Spot has been a hugely popular character since his first appearance 40 years ago.

Where it came from

This was the first of Eric Hill’s books about Spot the dog. In 1978 he made up a story about a dog to tell his son. He drew comics and worked as a graphic designer before creating his first picture book and he paid close attention to the details of design and specification. He kept the design simple. His main aim was the the books should have a sense of fun. Eric said that he saw the world from a dog’s point of view so he is in Spot.

Where it went next

Eric Hill wrote many more stories about Spot the dog, all in the same everyday world. They have been translated into over 60 languages – with Spot called Dribbel in Holland, Tippens in Sweden, Bolinha in Portugal.

Associated stories

The stories were adapted for television as the Adventures of Spot, airing on BBC in 1987.

In 2000 David Wood wrote a play for children, Spot’s Birthday Party, which was produced by Oxford Playhouse Productions and first performed at the Oxford Playhouse.