This month marks the 50th anniversary of the first Clifford book, Clifford the Big Red Dog. Clifford is immensely popular, with over 126 million Clifford books in print across 13 languages, and an animated TV series entering its 12th season on PBS Kids. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to speak with Norman Bridwell, the remarkable creator of this beloved character.
Clifford books are more than just stories; they embody themes of kindness, good deeds, making mistakes, and receiving forgiveness. They are a testament to unconditional love and are infused with humor that resonates with young readers. The expressive, poignant, and endearing artwork further enhances the charm of these tales. As of February 15th, Clifford’s creator, Norman Bridwell, celebrated his 85th birthday. He is described as kind, modest, and easy-going, embodying the lovable nature of his famous pup. He resides in a 120-year-old farmhouse in Massachusetts, on Martha’s Vineyard, with his wife of 54 years, Norma. The farmhouse’s doors and shutters are painted red in honor of Clifford. Norman and Norma have two grown children, Emily Elizabeth (who appears in the Clifford books) and Tim, along with three grandchildren.
Bridwell describes Clifford as a loving and loyal dog to Emily Elizabeth, always trying to do the right thing. However, his immense size often leads to unintentional damage, for which he is ultimately forgiven. This aspect of the stories, Bridwell believes, appeals to children who wish to be forgiven for their own mistakes. When asked if he identifies with Clifford’s clumsiness, Bridwell admits to being quite clumsy himself, often bumping into things and experiencing unintended consequences from his actions. He also recalls being terrible at sports and one of the last children chosen for teams during his school days, sharing a sense of awkwardness with his famous character.
The inspiration for Clifford originated from an art sample Bridwell created to show editors in hopes of securing illustration work. Despite initial rejections, one editor, Susan Hirschman, suggested he write a story to accompany his art. Hirschman pointed to a drawing of a little girl and a big red dog and proposed it as a potential story idea. In just three days, Bridwell conceptualized the scenarios that would arise from owning a giant dog. His wife, Norma, named the character Clifford, inspired by an imaginary childhood playmate. Bridwell created a dummy book, and Norma designed its cover. This dummy book was submitted to a publisher and ended up in a slush pile. Lilian Moore recognized its potential for Scholastic’s new paperback book club, and Beatrice de Regniers accepted it for publication. For this initial book, Bridwell received $1,000 for the book and $750 for the art. The original price of the book was 35 cents, and it took him two years to earn out his advance.
While the first Clifford book came easily, subsequent books presented more challenges. His second book, Zany Zoo, was not part of the Clifford series. When Bridwell offered another Clifford book idea to Beatrice de Regniers, she expressed openness but cautioned that not all submissions would be accepted. Nevertheless, Clifford Gets a Job also performed well, leading Bridwell to propose more stories. De Regniers maintained her stance, stating they weren’t running a “Norman Bridwell book club” and advised him not to expect automatic acceptance. However, the Clifford books continued to achieve significant success. Eventually, Beatrice called to inform him that Scholastic had reconsidered and would indeed be interested in a Norman Bridwell book series, though she reiterated the importance of maintaining quality standards.
Bridwell recalls that some of his book ideas were rejected, including those with overly preachy messages about environmentalism or social issues. When Bridwell once suggested incorporating a message into his books, de Regniers advised him to focus on entertainment rather than being a “message person.” Consequently, Bridwell concentrated on making children laugh, following her guidance. His creative process involves sketching out the action from page to page in thumbnail sketches. Once the drawings are complete, he develops the accompanying text, which often humorously contrasts with the visuals, allowing children to interpret the story themselves.
Bridwell’s studio is described as cluttered, filled with various Clifford merchandise provided by Scholastic, including plush toys, puzzles, games, clothing, and stationery. He works with an 11-by-14-inch pad and a pencil. He had a dedicated studio built about 12 years prior to the interview, believing that building one earlier might have been premature.
During their childhood, Bridwell’s children viewed his work on Clifford as simply something their father did, not something particularly special. They had other favorite books that they preferred over Clifford. His son mentioned Dr. Seuss as his favorite children’s author, while his daughter only realized Clifford’s popularity when she went to college and found that her peers were familiar with the character.
The original Clifford books were black and red, measuring eight by six inches with a landscape orientation. In the 1980s, the books were reformatted to a full-color, eight-by-eight square format to better display on bookstore racks, a change initiated by Dick Krinsley. Bridwell expressed surprise when some individuals preferred the earlier artwork, but he remained cooperative with format changes. He believes the purpose of his drawings is to convey the story’s message, making him open to advice on color and format.
Growing up in Kokomo, Indiana, provided Bridwell with a quiet environment conducive to imaginative thinking. He would spend his walks to and from school creating stories and characters in his mind, later illustrating them. As a child, he was notably gangly and skinny, earning nicknames like “Muscles” (due to his lack of them) and “Ovaltine.” Drawing was his primary interest, and he would use the blank backs of order forms provided by his father to sketch characters and adventures. He acknowledges that he wasn’t proficient in other areas; his high school shop teacher even redirected him to drawing after deeming him a safety risk with tools.
Bridwell attended art school in Indiana for four years, but found it didn’t fully prepare him for the commercial art industry. He moved to New York City after graduation, where friends attending Cooper Union encouraged him to join them. In New York, he worked various jobs, including wrapping packages at Macy’s, for a lettering studio, and for a necktie fabric-designing firm. He eventually found work creating cartoons for filmstrips and slides used in sales meetings and promotions for companies like Arrow Shirts, American Standard Plumbing, and Maxwell House Coffee. His role involved collaborating with writers to inject humor into dry scripts, a process he found enjoyable and good practice for his future career.
He reflects that working on those cartoons was excellent training for his eventual career as a picture book author and illustrator. Although the cartoon work often went unnoticed with little positive feedback, he found immense satisfaction when children began writing to him about the Clifford books, indicating that his work was being seen and appreciated.
Bridwell’s success in writing humor for young children stems from an anecdote about a silent film comedian who, upon becoming aware of his own talent, lost his comedic edge by overthinking. Bridwell believes in acting on natural instincts rather than overanalyzing.
His favorite Clifford book is Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors, which he felt captured the common experience of children having neighbors who complain about them entering their yards or stepping on their lawns. While the characters in the book resemble his mother’s neighbors in Indiana, he notes that they were actually very kind and considerate people, hoping they never noticed the resemblance to the grouchy characters.
