The book of his debut, as narrated by his owner, detailed Clifford's versatility, great helpfulness, and his friendship with his friends, albeit as the books progressed they detailed his many experiences with Emily Elizabeth and adventures (such as gaining temporary celebrity status in one book) and the endless benefits presented by Clifford's unusual size and gentleness, or the occasional disadvantages at some points. Character profileĬlifford is a giant, friendly red dog who is owned by a young girl named Emily Elizabeth with whom he lives in New York City. And this story soon became Clifford the Big Red Dog, published by Scholastic the following year. Bridwell originally planned to name a big red dog 'Tiny', but Norma said that this name sounded stupid for a giant-sized dog, instead suggesting 'Clifford' after her imaginary friend from her childhood.

His wife, Norma, joined in the making of the story of a girl and an even bigger red dog, just about the size of a house. However, an editor of Harper & Row had his drawing and offhandedly suggested he would turn this drawing into a story for children. In 1962, Bridwell tried to share his idea with his painting of a young girl and an oversized bloodhound to around fifteen publishing houses, but none of them were very interested. And so his idea was to write up a story, as well as illustrate, about a horse-sized dog who was quite friendly. He did try riding on a horse once, but this horse was not very friendly to him. When Norman Bridwell was a child, he wanted to have a horse-sized dog for him to ride on. He is one of the world's most recognizable storybook characters and the official mascot of Scholastic. Adam Sanders (2019–present, reboot series)Ĭlifford is the title character and the main protagonist of the Clifford the Big Red Dog book series, written by Norman Bridwell and originally published in 1963, and the television series of the same name, which is based upon it and ran from 2000 to 2003 on PBS Kids.

Lara Jill Miller ( Clifford's Puppy Days).

The original 1963 cover of Clifford the Big Red Dog

Big red dog created by norman bridwell