The Poky Little Puppy

Bibliography
Lowrey, Janette Sebring. The Poky Little Puppy by Gustaf Tenggren
New York, NY: Western Publishing Company. ISBN 0307604187

Plot Summary
The Poky Little Puppy is a picture book that tells the story of five little puppies that dig a hole under the fence and explore the world outside their yard. Then they look around and notice that one puppy or “the poky little puppy” is missing, so they look for him up and down, and around the hill and come across other garden critters until they find the poky puppy. The poky little puppy smells dinner and they all run home only to be scowled by their mother and sent to bed without supper, all except for the poky little puppy who arrives home later, eats all the rice pudding and goes to bed happy as can be. The next two mornings the same thing happens and the poky little puppy continues to eat all the desserts except for the day when his mother discovers that he is the one who has been eating all the puddings and is greatly displeased.

Critical Analysis
Janette Lowrey’s story of the poky little puppy is about choices and the consequences of those choices. Children will identify with the characters and reflect about times when they were naughty. This story is filled with prepositions that children will find themselves repeating throughout the story as well as practicing counting the numbers one through four.

The illustrations are in full color and were quite a sensation during its time in the 1940’s. The colors of the blankets belonging to the puppies are a vibrant solid color while the poky little puppy’s blanket is a patchwork, indicating left overs or hand-me-downs, symbolically making the poky little puppy the runt of the litter as he is always the last one to arrive.

Review Excerpt(s)
Kathleen Karr (Children's Literature: “What a sorry sight to see the poky pup’s comeuppance! Toddlers may learn a lesson from the pup’s experience.”

Publishers Weekly: “The Poky Little Puppy is the all-time bestselling children’s hardcover book in English.”

Connections
*It is the number one bestselling children’s book
* Great book to teach cause and effect
* This book can serve young readers as an introduction to prepositions
* Can be used to teach lessons about good things happen to those who do the right thing.
* Another popular books in the Golden Book Series is Tootle and the Saggy Baggy Elephant