Added Alliterative Appeal: Lots of picture book authors make use of alliterative names, but Lynley Dodd’s names would have to have some of the best mouthfeel in the biz. They’re more like Awesome McCool Names. RELATED

A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays. Old proverb A BRIEF HISTORY OF CATS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Lynley Dodd is an award-winning author/illustrator who lives in New Zealand. She is enormously popular for her rhyming stories of the unforgettable HAIRY MACLARY and his friends. She worked as a teacher before beginning to write her own books in 1974. With cumulative rhymes and sunny ink and watercolor illustrations, this international favorite chronicles the escapades of our hero Hairy and his crew of five kooky canines. Here every dog-from big-as-a-horse Hercules Morse to Schnitzel von Krumm with the very low tum-tries to have his day with HAIRY MACLARY'S BONE, but guess who triumphs! The moon plays a prominent role of course. First, the illustrator needs a light source, but more importantly, according to folklore (and modern hospital workers), strange things happen when there’s a full moon. In one image we even see Slinky carrying a perfectly round balloon (as well as a slipper and a sausage link), and the blood-red balloon partially obscures the moon. This makes Slinky seem as if he is at one with the moon, and like he might be carrying a moon replica in his very own mouth. The moon, we gather from this picture, is the reason for his personality transformation. No door, wall, fence or basket can contain these cheeky and adventure-seeking youngsters from Parkinson Place. The quartet of escape artists roams the neighbourhood at all hours. Easily keeping up with the most energetic adult cats, they incite each other to greater and greater feats of daring. While each kitten looks very different to his or her siblings, the four are always together in a set, playing and tumbling and scuffling in a blur Slinky Malinki is a fictitious cat who features in the Hairy Maclary children's stories written by New Zealand author Lynley Dodd.

These words are accompanied by an image of chaos — the legs of the human family members have caught him in a compromising position, tangled up all of his stolen gear. Here it looks like Slinky has been fighting with the stolen goods themselves; he is tangled up in wool and has a glove on his head. You could argue that the main opponent in this story are the alluring goods that he can’t help but steal. The items are almost personified.Lynley Dodd, too, has created a cast of cat characters which closely align to the cat characters typecast by T.S. Eliot. You’ve got Growltiger with Scarface Claw — the other main cat, and a wonderful nemesis for Hairy. Slinky Malinki is, of course, a modern Criminal, related to the Macavity (who sneaks about) and Mungojerry (who plans naughty things) from T.S. Eliot. The Lynley Dodd Exhibition - Redcliffe Library, 8 December 2017 - 17 March 2018". theredcliffepeninsula.com.au. The Redcliffe Peninsula . Retrieved 12 September 2019. Mann, Brittany; Beach, Andrew (25 July 2015). "Slinky still cat's whiskers at 25". The Press. New Zealand. p.A7.

There is an unseen opponent in this story — young readers know that Slinky is not supposed to be taking those things, and that the things belong to people. For the reader, the opponents are the owners of the stolen items, who will get him into trouble if he is caught. For Slinky, his opponent is probably some unseen creature of the night. Slinky is an adrenalin junkie. Plan by some primal instinct to hunt. But because he lives in the suburbs and not in a wild forest, his hunting ground is the domestic realm of human neighbours. Opponent Slinky Malinki ends up getting caught in the midst of his naughtiness and experiences the embarrassment and shame of his bad behavior. The illustrations capture his reaction to being caught so well and surely children everywhere can relate to being caught doing something they weren't supposed to do but enjoyed doing a bit to much. Criminal cats are not a fantastic invention for the sake of literature, either. The siamese breed in particular is smart, and some of them seem to have evolved a collecting instinct, much like a butcher bird. Here we have a startled teddy bear face to contrast with Slinky’s malevolent eyes. The bear seems to be looking at the reader for help. AnagnorisisLynley Dodd: A Retrospective, A Tauranga Art Gallery, New Zealand, Travelling Exhibition: 6 jun. — 19 jul. 2014". goulburnregionalartgallery.com.au. Goulburn Regional Gallery . Retrieved 12 September 2019.

Sometimes a story is not actually magical, but something is infused with a supposed supernatural set of forces. a b Moesch, Christine A. (August 1991). "Slinky Malinki (Book)". School Library Journal. 37 (8): 144. ISSN 0362-8930.Tonkinese cats can be ‘quite obsessive’ too, and here’s one who has a penchant for male underwear.(Tonkinese are a Siamese-Burmese cross.) There must be quite a history of cats thieving, or at least lurking about looking like they’re thieving: consider the English word ‘cat-burglar’.