Alongside his illustrations for the children’s book “Blitz Kids” (1941) by British author Elinor Mordaunt, the illustrator Walter Trier was above all busy with political caricatures and other work for the press during his exile in Great Britain. For the children’s book “Dandy the Donkey”, which was published in London in 1943, he not only drew the animals but also invented the story and wrote the text for the first time.

The little donkey Dandy grows up on a farm surrounded by children. He proves to be especially friendly and intelligent. This idyll is disrupted by the vagrant Snuff, who steals the donkey. Snuff forces Dandy to do hard and undignified labour and to steal. But Dandy resists him and persuades Snuff to sell him to a circus.

The art historian Antje M. Warthorst believes Trier’s children’s book echoes his story of exile: “Within the children’s story, Walter Trier turned his own forced flight from Germany into the theft of the little donkey in the middle of the night. The grief of the left-behind companions and the woes of the little donkey can be read as a metaphor for the emigrants’ emotional state.” (Antje M. Warthorst: Politik, Kunst, Reklame, 2006) It is with good reason that the circus in which Dandy eventually finds shelter is called “Wonderland”.

The book was also published in Brazil in 1943, in Switzerland in 1948 and in the USA in 1949. In 1950, Walter Trier wrote a sequel to the story, “Dandy in the Circus”.

Further reading:
Warthorst, Antje M.: Die Bilderwelt des Walter Trier, Berlin: Favoritenpresse 2022.