The Poky Little Puppy's Wonderful Winter Day
by Jean Chandler
illustrated by Sue DiCicco
Date: 1982
Publisher: Golden Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: library
Great news for Poky Little Puppy fans! An adorable story about tumble-bumble winter fun!
It’s a snowy morning, and Poky and his four brothers and sisters can’t wait to get outside and play! They dig tunnels, slide down hills, and make snow angels. But where is that poky little puppy? He’s chasing snowballs with the neighbor children! And that night when he’s tucked in, he dreams happily about his wonderful winter day. Out of print for decades, this story is back to honor Poky’s 75th birthday in 2017, which is also the 75th anniversary of Little Golden Books!
(synopsis from Goodreads)
These books are outdated and problematic. I didn't really like The Poky Little Puppy when I read it earlier this year, and for much the same reason I didn't like this one: both books depict serious safety problems.
In this book, instead of endangering the puppies' lives by feeding them chocolate, the story exposes them to freezing temperatures and potential traffic. After eating their breakfast of oatmeal with milk and honey (why do these dogs eat nothing but the equivalent of desserts?), their mother turns them loose outside into an unfenced front yard. They're then forced to play outside all day. Now, when we had a dog, she enjoyed the snow... to a point. But dogs are warm-blooded, living creatures, and they will get cold. Puppies, especially, would be in danger of getting too cold. Nevertheless, these ones are depicted as playing in the snow all day, only returning home when it's time for dinner... at which point they're fed strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Some books have had their day. This is one of them. I wouldn't want to give this (or the original) to a child because of the dangerous ideas it presents. Puppies should not be eating dessert (especially chocolate). Puppies should not be left outside in the snow all day. And puppies should definitely not be left unsupervised and unrestrained so they can get hit by a car.
Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 1/5
Overall: 1.67 out of 5
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