Clifford the Big Red Dog

Clifford is a giant, friendly red dog who is owned by a young girl named Emily Elizabeth with whom he lives in New York City. He is a main character in the Stuffed Animals Learning series. 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. Clifford's infancy is occasionally mentioned and depicted in a few books, in which he appears as a regular-sized, small puppy, albeit it has been mentioned that he later grew to tremendous proportions. While it is highly debated among fans, the creators of the show have confirmed that Clifford can grow and shrink depending on the life force of the children around him.[citation needed]

Although Clifford is depicted as a regular, semi-humanized dog aside from his size in the series of picture books, in the animated series adapted from the books he and his adoptive family live in the fictional island country, Birdwell Island, and is gifted with extra anthropomorphism, and capabilities of speech when conversing with other dogs.

Concept and Creation
When Norman Bridwell was a child, he wanted to have a horse-sized dog for him to ride on. He did try riding on a horse once, but this horse was not very friendly to him. And so his idea was to write up a story, as well as illustrate, about a horse-sized dog who was quite friendly. 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. However, an editor of Harper & Row had his drawing and offhandedly suggested he would turn this drawing into a story for children. 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. 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. And this story soon became Clifford the Big Red Dog, published by Scholastic the following year.