Three

This picture book follows the title dog that has been named Three due to a missing leg. Despite this disability, Three lives a happy, though ownerless, life in the big city, relying on the kindness of strangers and his own street-smarts. Three sees the world through legs, from the bugs and animals he encounters, to the chairs he sees people sitting on. One day, Three follows a scent out of the city and stumbles upon a rural paradise with new animals and insects and, most importantly, a girl who takes a shining to him and brings him home.

The writing is concise and mimics the “language” of the dog. A line like “the cars were not so many” offers syntax that may echo a young child’s own language. The illustrations, created with pencil, watercolour, and ink, are colourful and lively and perfectly capture vibrant city life and, later, a peaceful bucolic paradise. King’s drawings of city streets are worth paying attention to in order to discover all the charming details from buskers to construction cranes to curtains blowing in the wind; the city Three lives in is not menacing, but a world of beauty and wonder.

Three is not a pitiable character for whom the reader is made to feel sadness. Besides a brief mention of Three wanting a home and someone to love, there is little dwelling on Three’s circumstances. He is an optimist, grateful for whatever life throws his way, and so when he finds himself with a home and someone to love, there is no significant change to his already rosy disposition. Three’s environment is the only thing that has changed; his character has not, and this lack of personal growth and development makes the narrative fall a little flat. Despite this minor shortcoming, Three is a charming and beautiful picture book with a title character you can’t help but cheer for.