Norman Bridwell, creator of the classic book series "Clifford the Big Red Dog," died Friday night in Martha's Vineyard.  He was 86. The idea for Clifford began in 1962, when Bridwell considered earning extra money for his family by working as a freelance artist.The Clifford stories became a huge success, despite being rejected by a publisher 15 times. More than 126 million books were sold in 13 languages. Bridwell drew Clifford with a ballpoint pen on a pad of paper and Scholastic added the color. Check out the great Clifford books at our library.