Harriet Hound
Age 6+
Animal Stories
The world's happiest and most dog-friendly superhero is here! A brand new adventure for junior readers from Kate Foster.
Meet Harriet Hound. She's eight years old and loves dogs!
But Harriet has something else that makes her super ... the power to summon the dogs from her family's rescue shelter every time there’s trouble afoot.
Whether it's a carnival catastrophe, a sudden storm, or vanishing vegetables, Harriet and her best dog friends use their super special talents and problem-solving skills to save the day!
Resources
Creators
Kate Foster is a children's author writing about friends, family, and dogs. Originally from a small town in the south east of England, she now lives on the stunning Gold Coast in Australia with her family and second-hand dogs. She is passionate about encouraging and teaching a wider understanding of autism and mental illness via positive approach and representation.
Sophie Beer is an award-winning illustrator/author living in Brisbane, Australia. She has created bold, colourful art for the likes of Disney, Google, Penguin Random House New York, Simon and Schuster, and more. Revelling in colour, shape and texture, she lives by one simple rule: art should never be boring. When she's not illustrating and writing, she thinks a lot about plants, animals, music, books, and equality.
Reviews
Perfectly-judged stories that will thrill young readers with intriguing mysteries, simple-yet-rhythmic writing and a highly-inventive brand of canine magic.
Andrew McDonald
This gorgeous book gets a big paws-up from me – funny, adorable and packed full of puppies
Nat Amoore
A sprinkle of magic, a superhero in doggy pjs and a dog for every occasion are the stars in this paw-some tail. Foster writes of Harriet’s exciting life with bags of heart and a clear understating of autism that shines through in each of the three short stories.
A Word About Books
The Autistic representation in Harriet Hound is charming and authentic. Many of Harriet’s experiences will be relatable to young Autistic readers…Everything about Harriet Hound is loveable; the book was pleasure to read. As an Autistic adult, I wish there were protagonists like Harriet when I was younger. It would have made a measurable difference to my self-esteem and confidence to see stories about children who think and act in a similar manner to myself, especially children like Harriet who are comfortable with their own identity. I applaud the affirming depiction of autism which illustrates that being Autistic is simply a different way of being, not something that is wrong or to be ashamed of. I highly recommend Harriet Hound for young readers, around 6 to 10 years of age
Autism Books by Autistic Authors
The alliteration is fun and will help younger readers to explore language and learn more about language, to grasp how words can be playful and fun. And the similar endings are reassuring for kids who like repetition, because they can see that some things won’t change – this is engaging and ensure that kids and any readers really, can feel at ease knowing these stories have patterns and similarities but with different plots that are exciting and fun – I loved that these aspects all combined to create a great accessible story with wonderful autistic representation that will let autistic kids and adults see themselves being awesome but also see the reality of their lives – how their lives might be – reflected in the books they read. I loved this because I got to be entertained and learn something along the way.
Ashleigh Meikle
