The Poky Little Puppy

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

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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 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.

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This was one of my favorite books when I was a child. I believe that it was one of the first books I had ever read on my own as well. This is a great book about discipline and the consequences of disobeying the rules. The poky little puppy gets into all sorts of trouble.

A classic from my daughter's childhood. How many times did that puppy go "roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble" down that hill?

One of my favorite books as a child, I especially loved the illustrations.

Classic, cute, sweet little children's book.

When I first started reading this to my preschooler, it was one of my least favorite (and of course, one of his favorites!). However, once I started listening to the rhythms of the story, I gained a new appreciation for the way the story is written. Charming.

The Pokey Little Puppy is a book about a family of dogs. The main character is a little puppy who seems to always get in trouble. He has many adventures during this book.

I love this book. It has always been one of my favorites. I still remember my mother reading it to me as a child. The pictures

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are very cute.

I would like to use this book as part of my lesson on rules. I would read the book aloud and we would discuss what happens when the puppy doesn't mind. We would discuss why it is important to obey the rules.

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This book shows children the cosequences of disobeying the rules. No dessert!!

The Poky Little Puppy is a classic book. I grew up reading this and it is one of my son's favorites as well. It shows how he is always behind his brothers and sisters and he keeps getting all the dessert, but it eventually catches up with him and he doesn't get any.

This book shows children that

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there are eventually going to be consequences for their actions, even if they go unnoticed for a while. They can use the cute illustrations to learn tocount as well.

I would use this book as a tool to show that actions have consequences. I would show them that they might be able to get away with things for a while but it will eventually catch up with them.

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"The Poky Little Puppy" is a book about five puppies that dig a hole underneath the fence in their yard so that they can venture into the world everyday. They would all run up the hill together, but one of the puppies was a bit poky and usually didn't keep up with the others. At the end of each day

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the smell of desert would call the puppies home, but they always had to go to bed without any because they kept misbehaving. The poky little puppy would come home late after everyone was asleep, eat all the desert himself, and go to bed happy. Eventually all the puppies learned their lesson and understood that if they ever wanted to get any desert, then they must behave and stop digging holes!

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This is a story about a poky puppy who lets his curiosity get the best of him and instead of listening to his mother or keeping up with his siblings he finds himself in without dessert. This is a classic Golden Book that is best for readers who are ready for longer pages and less pictures. While

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there are pictures on every page, some of the pages have long paragraphs, so I would not suggest this as a picture book for preschoolers to listen to as they will become bored after a few pages. The lesson that goes along with the book is a good one for children as it teaches to listen to parents and when you do listen, you will have a reward.

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this would be a good book to be read to. Also for more advanced readers due to the longer and bigger sentences. there are pictures.

The poky little puppy is a naughty little puppy.

A favorite of my young childhood in the early 1940's. I don't know what "lesson" I understood subconsciously--but I know my sympathies were completely with the Poky Little Puppy. He was me.

"The Poky Little Puppy" is about five little puppies that do not listen to their mother. Instead of staying in the fence they dig a hole under it every day to go explore the world. While the other puppies climb to the top of a hill, the poky little puppy observes things as he walks. Every night

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when they go back to their house for dinner all of the puppies don't get to eat, except the poky little puppy. This is a good book to teach children how to listen to adults.

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My childhood favorite!

Of course for this book the title says a lot. This book is about a puppy that is always getting sidetracked by other things and falls behind. He learns his lesson to not poky around when it’s time to eat or else it will be gone by the time he gets there.

this is one of the most popular children's book. it is an adorable tale about a little puppy who is rather poky. his pokiness is caused by his curiousity.

The five puppies aren't supposed to dig under the fence, but they want to see the wide world. Each time they return home, their mother sends them to bed without dessert. Because he is always slow, the poky puppy comes home late and gets the dessert

This book is a great read. Without a doubt, I want this book in my future classroom. The illustrations are adorable and are on every single page. They support the text by showing the puppies digging under the fence and also by writing the signs “Don’t ever dig holes under this fence,” to help

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the readers visualize the scene. The text is simple yet very descriptive, using a lot of adjectives and verbs. For example, “ And home they went, as fast as they could go, over the bridge, up the road, through the meadow, and under the fence.” The main message of this book was to respect your parents and good things come to those who obey the rules.

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We got this at the hospital library from the "take a book" bin. CG loves the puppy, and I love remembering the LGBs of my youth, which my mother bought me every time we went to the A&P grocery on the corner.

A story about five little puppies digging a hole to go out exploring each day. One puppy though each day lags behind the others. The four puppies make it home each night but get punished with no dessert for digging their hole, but the puppy that lags behind steals the dessert when he finally gets

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home. The last day though the four puppies that always arrive home first try to fill in the hole and get rewarded with dessert finally.

Personal: I think this is a timeless book remembering it being read to me as a child and then reading it to my own children.

Classroom Extensions: 1. Take the class outside to explore and see what you can find will being poky. 2. Make strawberry shortcake with the class to have for snack time.

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The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey
Illustrated colorful children's book is about 5 puppies and they start out digging under a fence and playing near a hill and they stop to count and there are only 4 of them.
there is one that is slow and likes to take his time and he ends up finding

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trouble but at the end of the day they do not get dessert because their mother told them do not dig under the fence.

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Very cute. And I was never really a puppy guy, so I can imagine how much cuter it would be to a kid who is, like my niece Luisa, who just produced a drawing of her with an imaginary puppy friend with the caption "somewhere out there there's a puppy who wants me as much as I want him."