This picture book came to my attention via Tanya Arnold of Biblioguides, but I already knew and loved Dodsworth the rat. (I thought he was a mole, but he’s actually a rat.) Dodsworth and the duck are the main characters in one of my favorite easy reader series, Dodsworth in New York, Dodsworth in London, Dodsworth in Paris, etc. I had no idea that Dodsworth made his first appearance in print in The Pink Refrigerator.
Dodsworth “loved to do nothing.” “[H]is motto was basically ‘Try to do as little as possible.'” The Pink Refrigerator is the story of how Dodsworth got up, got moving, and became an adventurer, and it’s a perfect prequel of sorts to the Dodsworth and the duck books. The awakening of Dodsworth is all because of the inspiration he received from messages he found at the dump on a mysterious and rusty pink refrigerator.
I don’t want to spoil the story by telling too much more, but this one should be a classic. “Dodsworth suddenly felt a great sense of wonder about everything.” Isn’t that sense of wonder and adventure what we all want for ourselves and our children, for all of those we love? If they can learn it from a rat (mole?) named Dodsworth and a pink refrigerator, then more power to him!
“Tim Egan lives in California, where he makes a living as an illustrator and author of children’s books. Sometimes he visits the refrigerator for ideas, too. Except his refrigerator is blue.”
Read more about Dodsworth and his adventures in:
- Dodsworth in New York
- Dodsworth in London
- Dodsworth in Paris
- Dodsworth in Rome
- Dodsworth in Tokyo
Read more about the duck in Friday Night at Hodges Cafe.
Sinclair Lewis also wrote a book called Dodsworth. Not the same Dodsworth.
I still prefer to think that Dodsworth is a mole.