The Poky Little Puppy

You know what is a great stress-reliever? This book.

Well, actually just about any kids book from my childhood.

I've taken up reading kids books at bedtime, to help me turn off all the day's horrible news, to let go, to combat horrible insomnia. Kids books are doing the trick.

I swear, in just the first two pages of this one, I was smelling that sweet puppy breath, hearing happy little puppy yips. I was recalling the clumsy way puppies run and how that makes us laugh. Then I remembered, in vivid detail, a very particular Texas hot summer afternoon. Sitting on my porch in the shade, I was reading this very book to my oldest Little (my grandchild, she's 21 now). I remembered my dog Dixie, too. Dixie was there with us as we read that show more afternoon, nudging with her wet nose to be in the middle. (Dixie was one of those dogs. You know: the best dog in the world kind.)

I fell asleep in just 10 minutes, the book open beside me.

Sweet puppy breath....my first Little when she was so little....Dixie.... show less

I read this to my kids every couple years and each time they got wide eyed at the idea of being sent to bed without food. Nothing other than dessert was mentioned, and that's all kids really want, right? It's somehow a bad book in a way the kids also find bad and don't like yet sometimes ask me to read again, as if they subconsciously enjoy being reminded how good they have it when they do things they're told not to. There's also something about the wording and artwork that makes it unique enough I'm not driven crazy when asked to read it again.

Sometimes the slow and curious are rewarded, sometimes they aren't. Sometimes breaking rules results in punishment, sometimes it doesn't. Puppies can't read signs, but someone expect them to. show more Grass grows fasted on freshly filled holes. I can't think of another children's book with such a complicated message. show less

The Poky Little Puppy is the first book I remember reading, so it will always have a space on my bookshelf. Revisiting it almost forty years later, however, has resulted in some mixed feelings. As a Little Golden Book, the focus is more on counting and reading along with the child to help build cognitive skills, so it's really a mistake to put too much emphasis on the plot or story. With that being said...

On the surface, the book is about a curious little puppy who eventually learns that disobeying the rules has consequences, but upon closer inspection this morality tale becomes a bit more muddled. The titular Poky Little Puppy is not the only one breaking the rules, but is in fact one of five puppies that repeatedly ignore show more restrictions against digging under the fence and leaving the yard. Warning against straying from home is a good message for a children's book, but instead of unforeseen dangers in the unknown outside world, the five runaway puppies are greeted by green grass and a colorful array of insects and reptiles, only returning home when they realize that a dessert is being prepared for them back home. Poky's only deviation from the behavior of the other puppies is that he is the one to first notice hints that dessert is awaiting them at home, and is the only one that doesn't rush back home in time to be punished for digging under the fence by being refused dessert. By the time Poky returns, everybody is asleep, and he eats the dessert, seemingly unaware of the punishment. This happens again and again until Poky's four brothers are rewarded with dessert for filling in the hole under the fence AFTER they've already left and come back, and then narc on Poky when he comes back later so that he is punished with no dessert. Now, apart from the idea of 'Just Desserts' at play here, it seems more than a little unfair that Poky is singled out as the main transgressor when you consider that his only deviation from group behavior was being more observant to details and less prone to running back home at the first hint of sugary treats. If the other puppies had simply followed Poky's lead, they all would have arrived home late and had dessert together, as it appears their "mother" can't be bothered to search for missing puppies that don't show up for dinner.

So, while on the surface this is little more than a cute story about the pitfalls of curiosity, what we really have is the unfair persecution and scapegoating of an individual for being more in tune with his surroundings, rewarding pack mentality, parental neglect, enforcement of arbitrary rules with no indication as to their importance, and a prediction of the current childhood obesity epidemic.

This is why adults should not review children's books. show less

The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey is one of those children's books that is simple but also has gentle lessons and engaging illustrations. This story follows five puppies who sneak out to explore, but one curious puppy always wanders away. One of the many themes in this story is curiosity and independence. Children are naturally curious beings, so this story sheds light on how children want to explore the world around them. It is also a great example that children can be curious but with responsibility. The illustrations are warm and inviting, using soft colors and very expressive emotions with the puppy characters, and also show other animals throughout the story. Overall, this story is engaging and cute for children.

So this is a terrible story. 5 puppies keep sneaking out of their yard, and one is really poky (hence the name). The 4 faster puppies get caught disobeying their mother and don't get dessert, while the Poky Puppy sneaks in and eats it all (?) after everyone goes to bed. First of all, dog mom is obviously a terrible mother what with letting her puppies wander around with no supervision. Secondly, it seems weird to reward the slow one for getting home last. Thirdly, I don't ever punish/reward my kid with food so I find the whole "bed without dessert" thing obnoxious.
We bought this in a boxed set and I kind of wish we hadn't. I read about half the text, so that the story becomes a heartwarming tale of 5 puppies who go on walks and eat show more dessert before bed. The End! show less

Deceptively simple, it allows the reader to fall into the trap of believing that the one who lags behind ALWAYS gets the dessert. There's a twist here, though!

The worldbuilding was pretty fantastic, with a god-like creature that keeps sending signs to all the anthropomorphic creatures that romp about, giving and taking away favours all willy-nilly, almost as if it was attempting to teach all the characters a very important lesson.

I honestly thought the message was taking over the story a bit too much, though, and the clarity of the story made me question my own value system.

Finally, it's a YA novel that changed my life!



I will Never, Ever dig holes under the fence, EVER AGAIN.


At least there are no sparkly vampires, so I didn't get TOO show more scared. Plus, I didn't like any of those deserts. And the wild, wild world scares me.

Maybe this book is too racy for me. show less

Fuck me, this book really did not age well... nowadays any good dog owner knows to not let their dog have chocolate... and the "lesson" this book is supposed to impart is not a very good one. But hey, this book was published in 1942 and some of the things taught to children in that era are best forgotten.

There's some childrens books out there that are absolute classics and worth sharing with kids, even books older than this (i.e. Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel) but Poky Little Puppy is definitely not one.