The Poky Little Puppy

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lowery, Janette Sebring. 1942, renewed in 1970. THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY. Ill. By Gustaf Tenggren. New York, NY: Random House, Inc. ISBN 978-307-02134-2

PLOT SUMMARY

Five little puppies adventure out beyond the fence, through a meadow, down a road, over a bridge, across green grass and up a hill, yet as they crest the hill they count and find out one puppy is missing – the poky little puppy. Looking around the four notice other creatures and find the dawdling puppy in the grass below. He’s got his nose to the ground sniffing out dessert at home. The puppies rush home to dinner, but they’re punished and don’t get dessert because they’ve dug under the fence. The poky puppy arrives after all are in bed and eats the rice pudding on his own. The five puppies escape two more times with similar results, yet the poky puppy doesn’t get dessert the last time because his faster siblings fill in the hole to please their mother and he’s so poky he misses out.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Janette Sebring Lowery’s classic story remains a favorite of children. She entertains all with five rambunctious puppies curiously searching beyond their fenced limits. The book includes some repetitive text which lends itself to good predicting, as well as, rich descriptions with phrases like, “roly-poly,” “tumble-bumble,” and “pell-mell.” Children can also help count the puppies to discover the missing puppy.

Swedish artist, Gustaf Tenggren, crafts simple drawings that enhance the telling of the story by emphasizing the sequence within the plot. The soft tones and rounded lines of the illustrations, like those in his illustrations in Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, sweeten the look of the puppies and other creatures, thus making children “fall in love” with the book’s “pets.”

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

·         PUBLISHERS WEEKLY best-selling children’s book of all time, 1996

·         One-Minute Book Reviews by Janice Harayda, 2009 – “…the puppy radiates such sweetness that no one could think him intentionally wayward ...”

·         CHILDREN’S LITERATURE by Kathleen Karr – “Toddlers may learn a lesson from the pup’s experience. They will also enjoy counting up to almost five, not to mention Tenggren’s enticing clouds and toads and other poky-causing creatures.”

CONNECTIONS

·         Prepare one of the desserts mentioned in the story (rice pudding, chocolate custard, strawberry shortcake) that the poky little puppy and his family eat.

·         Some public libraries offer visits with library dogs allowing children to read with or to the dogs.

·         Read books about dogs getting out and their behavior:

o   PLEASE TAKE ME FOR A WALK by Susan Gal, ISBN 978-0375858635

o   LYLE WALKS THE DOGS: A COUNTING BOOK by Bernard Waber, ISBN 978-0547223230

o   GOOD DOG, AGGIE by Lori Ries, ISBN 978-1570916458

o   WHEN LUCY GOES OUT WALKING: A PUPPY’S FIRST YEAR by Ashley Wolff, ISBN 978-0805081688