Hairy Maclary and Friends is a series of children's picture books created by New Zealand author and illustrator Dame Lynley Dodd. The popular series has sold over five million copies worldwide. The character Hairy Maclary made his first appearance in 1983 in the book titled Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy. He is the protagonist in twelve books in the series, and there are a further nine books about his friends. Hairy Maclary's adventures are usually in the company of his other animal friends who include the dachshund Schnitzel von Krumm, the Dalmatian Bottomley Potts, greyhound-cross Bitzer Maloney, mastiff Hercules Morse and Old English sheepdog Muffin McLay. The series also features cats Scarface Claw, their formidable opponent, and Slinky Malinki. According to the books' website, Hairy Maclary is "a small dog of mixed pedigree". Description Hairy Maclary books are designed to be read by an adult to a child. The plots are simple, keeping with the comprehension-level of the age group for which they are written. They generally involve Hairy and his friends in adventurous scenarios pitched against local cats. The animals in this series, unlike the creatures of Beatrix Potter's stories, are not given human thoughts and motives, their actions tell the stories, and reflect their animal natures. Each double-sided page has an illustration on one side, and text on the other. The pictures and the written words together tell the story, and the illustrations and their meanings are as important as the text. The books have a wide format that enables a child seated beside an adult to have a full view of the picture page while the adult reads. The text is written in rhythmic verse that flows easily with simple rhymes like "Bottomley Potts covered in spots, Hercules Morse as big as a horse". Characters, events and therefore language are repetitive and cumulative, in the manner of "Old MacDonald had a farm". Each book contains a twist or some sort of conclusion at the end. The repetitions permit a young child to anticipate what is coming next and repeat the words. "Schnitzel von Krumm with a very low tum, Bitzer Maloney all skinny and bony, Muffin McLay like a bundle of hay, Bottomley Potts covered in spots, Hercules Morse as big as a horse and Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy" Although the books are designed to entertain young children, they are not intended as "early readers", as