The books, which have been translated into 13 languages, have sold more than 129 million copies, according to Scholastic, and have inspired an animated television series and a full-length animated film. The series became a read-aloud literary staple, an international favorite for parents who read to their children before the children can read themselves. And almost from the beginning they featured characters, especially children, of varied ethnicities and races. Published in 1963, “Clifford the Big Red Dog” led to a parade of Clifford books, tales of the dog galumphing through simple experiences that very young children would recognize as familiar: “Clifford’s Family,” “Clifford’s Good Deeds,” “Clifford’s Bathtime” and the like.
The “Clifford” books became a read-aloud literary staple. But he was nonetheless the embodiment of kindness and amiability, a four-legged, wet-nosed, bright red lesson in learning to get along with others. He was an affectionate, slightly clumsy, eager-to-help creature who had flaws - he had a tendency to dig up flowers, among other things - and caused problems. In the actual drawing of the book, Clifford turned out close to the size of a house. That had been his own fantasy as a little boy, he said. Bridwell was an out-of-work commercial artist living in New York City when he sold the idea for a single book about a dog big enough for his loving owner, a little girl, to ride. Bridwell’s wife of 56 years, Norma, told The Associated Press that he had prostate cancer and that he had been in the hospital for three weeks after a fall at his Martha’s Vineyard home in Edgartown.
Bridwell, confirmed his death without specifying a cause.
Kyle Good, a spokeswoman for Scholastic Books, which over the past half-century has published dozens of Clifford titles by Mr. Norman Bridwell, the creator of Clifford the Big Red Dog, a figure who looms as large in toddler lit as the great white whale does in the American canon, died on Friday in Oak Bluffs, Mass., on Martha’s Vineyard.
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