ABSTRACT
Lily is a cheery little girl who likes going for walks with her dog, Nicky. She watches the sunset, buys groceries and flowers, looks at the stars, says goodnight to the ducks, arrives back in time for supper and finally goes happily to bed. This is Lily’s story and it is the story told by the words. But to understand why next to the smiling Lily there is always an anxious-looking Nicky, we need to ‘read’ the story told by the pictures. As Lily and Nicky take a walk, the pictures show us that the dog encounters (or he imagines), among other things, a snake, a tree with a wicked grin, a fierce-looking post-box, lamp posts with eyes, a vampire-like man emerging from a poster on the wall and various monsters. When they get home, Nicky seems to be trying to tell Lily and her parents what he saw, but they are not paying attention. Exhausted, he finally lies down, only to be plagued by a group of mice trying to get into his basket with a ladder!
