The Poky Little Puppy

· Sold by Golden Books
4.3
183 reviews
Ebook
24
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

One of the original 12 Little Golden Books, The Poky Little Puppy has sold nearly 15 million copies since 1942, making it one of the most popular children’s books of all time. Now this curious little puppy is ready to win the hearts and minds of a new generation of kids.

Ratings and reviews

4.3
183 reviews
Gracen Sheni
July 9, 2022
Just read the sample... It brought back great childhood memories!! Thanks, Penguin Random House LLC, for restoring the book to its original rendition.
Did you find this helpful?
Jenny Teets
February 15, 2014
I have been in love with the poky little puppy since 76'. By in love, I mean obsessed. :-) I am so happy to have it on my tablet now and with such vibrant colors! I love the write up in the back of the virtual boom about the author and illustrator. I love, love, love it! Thank you. And the price was totally reasonable. :-)
5 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
Michael Kepler
August 24, 2015
Short of finding a very old copy in good shape, this is as close as you can get to the original book, at least in terms of the illustrations. I haven't been able to pinpoint the year the printed book was edited, with several illustrations removed, most notably the puppies running across the bridge and the black spider going down the hill, and the whole layout altered. Oddly, if you view this in the "original pages" mode, you will get the edited version, but if you view it in the "flowing text" mode, you get what appears to be all of the original illustrations. Nonetheless, it would be virtually impossible to re-create the original layout of the book, although you can get pretty close by increasing the text a couple of steps. I have long suspected the the spider illustration was removed because it was deemed "too scary". However, I had the original form of the book as a child and find myself less afraid of spiders than most people I know. I can think of no valid editorial reason to remove the other missing illustrations, and am left to assume that it was simply done to save money in printing. The flow of the book, particularly the awkward pagination at some points, suffers in the edited version, and generations of children have been robbed of the chance to see all of Gustaf Tenggren's delightful and beautiful illustrations. There was a symmetry to the presentation of each iteration of the puppies' excursions beyond the fence, with each creature they observe going down or up the hill illustrated on an individual page along with the relevant text. Removing the spider breaks that symmetry and ruins the rhythm of the storytelling process. This book has been criticized for being confusing or even incoherent as a morality play, but such matters have not been very deeply troubling to generations of preschoolers who simply enjoy the cute puppies and relate to the delights they take in both adventure and dessert. They get that the Poky Puppy is not behaving well when he takes more than his share, and that he ends up with some negative consequences for it. They don't do the math that tells more jaded readers that the message is that "pokyness pays". But frankly, his "pokyness" is also heroic, as it demonstrates that a richer adventure can be found by those who wander rather than run with the pack. The other puppies may not have noticed all of the fascinating creatures along the way if they had not been searching for the prodigal sibling. If anything, it is a gentle and subliminal introduction the the ambiguities of morality, which I contend is more healthful than the artificially all bad or all good characters that inhabit most children's literature, and grown-up literature as well.
14 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?

About the author

JANETTE SEBRING LOWREY (1892-1986), a Texan, wrote mostly teen fiction during the 1940s and 1950s. Her young adult novel Margaret was adapted into a TV serial, Walt Disney Presents: Annette, which aired on The Mickey Mouse Club in 1958, starring Annette Funicello. But Lowrey is best known as the author of The Poky Little Puppy, which was one of the original twelve Little Golden Books that launched in 1942. It went on to become an icon, and the bestselling picture book of all time.

GUSTAF TENGGREN (1896-1970) was a well-known illustrator in his native Sweden before immigrating to the United States in 1920. He illustrated many Golden Books, beginning with The Poky Little Puppy. One of the original twelve Little Golden Books published in 1942, The Poky Little Puppy went on to become the bestselling picture book of all time. Other iconic Little Golden Books illustrated by Tenggren include The Saggy Baggy Elephant, The Shy LIttle Kitten, and Tawny Scrawny Lion. In the late 1930s, Tenggren worked for the Disney Studio, providing concept artwork (created to inspire and guide animators)  for various characters and scenes in Bambi, The Old Mill, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Fantasia.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.