“Do you know what it takes to keep one?!” is the sentence most often told to children when they ask their parents if they could get a dog. But in many cases this is often true, as children do not look further when they see a cute puppy behind the glass in a pet shop or on the internet. They do not realise the amount of work it takes to care for one. My bachelor paper was created as a result of this problem.

 

My purpose is to make young children from the age of 7 to 12 aware of all aspects of having a dog. Research shows that 7-year old children have the cognitive abilities to autonomously raise a dog (under the supervision of their parents, that is).

 

From this age on children use books like Geronimo Stilton or other comic books of their choice to read before they go to bed. This is why I, as an illustrator, chose to work out my paper by means of a comic book.

 

Since 7-year olds belong to the category of starting readers, I tried to combine the best qualities of the Belgian comic book, which has an A4-format, with the qualities of the American comic book, which includes the usage of big images. This combination results in a comic book with big pictures and big text balloons, which promotes the readability.

 

My comic begins with the introduction of my characters, which are called “The Moon Moon’s”. This community of happy fantasy dogs lives together in their own world on a floating island, which the human eye cannot see. In the first edition a special rescue team has been called by a terribly sad girl, named Kato. Kato, who has her birthday coming up soon, asks her parents if she could have a dog as a present. Her parents immediately decline, as Kato is too ignorant when it comes to pets. This is a perfect job for the Moon Moon’s, as they will take Kato on a splendid adventure and introduce her into the marvellous world of dogs and give her all the knowledge she needs