Puppy!

by Keith Graves

Overview

Trog has all the best toys: the best stick, the best rock, the best mud. But Trog doesn't care about those things. He only wants one thing: a puppy. So he sets off to find one, but what he brings back may not be exactly what he thinks it is.

Join Trog on his quest for the perfect pet in this hilarious picture book from the creator of The Monsterator and Second Banana.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626722255
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	04/12/2016
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Keith Graves is the author and illustrator of many hilarious picture books for children, including Chicken Big, Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance, The Monsterator, and the upcoming Second Banana, the latter two from Roaring Brook Press. Keith lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Nancy, and twins, Max and Emma.

Editorial Reviews

01/18/2016
With exuberantly old-school cartooning and a wealth of sight and sound gags, Graves (Second Banana) takes readers back to a paleontologically inaccurate but very funny past to meet Trog, a cave boy who decides that a stray baby dinosaur is the puppy he’s yearned for. “Puppy” has a toothy underbite, Groucho eyebrows, and pink stripes. Trog adores him, and while the boy may have a limited vocabulary (two words is the most he can muster), he’s relentlessly upbeat about pet ownership and tireless in his efforts to make his new pet feel at home in the family cave—even when Puppy eats everything in sight and promptly poops. So why does Puppy cry all time (Graves writes “Boo hoooohoooo” in wonderfully plaintive pencil scrawls) and refuse to be consoled? Readers will probably guess long before Trog does that Puppy misses his Mommy, but they’ll still get a kick out of seeing how the homesick dinosaur and his indefatigable, putative owner try to control their own and each other’s destinies. Ages 4–8. Agent: Liza Pulitzer Voges, Eden Street Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"With exuberantly old-school cartooning and a wealth of sight and sound gags, Graves (Second Banana) takes readers back to a paleontologically inaccurate but very funny past to meet Trog, a cave boy who decides that a stray baby dinosaur is the puppy he’s yearned for." — Publishers Weekly

"A fun addition to pair with Tammi Sauer and Bob Shea’s Me Want Pet! for a great storytime."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

08/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—Trog has everything that a cave boy could possibly want, from sticks to stones—even mud. But what he really desires more than anything is a puppy, which he finds one day out in the prehistoric fields. The "puppy" is of course a baby dinosaur, but that doesn't stop Trog from dragging the reluctant animal back to his cave. Trog tries to get his puppy to adapt to life with his family, but it clearly does not want to stay no matter how hard Trog tries to please it. The boy then must decide whether keeping his puppy at home is truly fair to his animal. The story does seem fairly familiar, but children will enjoy seeing Trog's reptilian puppy tear through his house, and the simple language makes this title a great choice for beginning readers. Graves's simple cartoon illustrations add to the lighthearted feel of the book, while his gritty outlines match the crudeness of the time period. VERDICT A fun addition to pair with Tammi Sauer and Bob Shea's Me Want Pet! for a great storytime.—Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

2015-12-22
For boys, at least, some things haven't changed since the Stone Age. Caveboy Trog has the best toys—a stick, a rock, a patch of mud—but they're all instant (pre-) history when he comes upon a crocodilian "PUPPY!" and drags it home by its red-and-green-striped tail. "GOOD PUPPY!" he shouts, even when the new arrival chows down on the (stone) sofa and bed, eats the (stone) dinnerware as well as everyone's dinner, and makes "a boo boo" on the floor (" BAD POOPY!" chorus his less-than-enthusiastic parents). The puppy, however, does not share Trog's joy in its new home and mopes (when it's not eating). Despite Trog's best efforts to distract his buddy, the puppy cries. Why? Trog finally gets a clue when a humongous version of the puppy arrives to carry its unhappy offspring back to the swamp. No more tears! Has Trog learned a lesson? Not hardly, as he's last seen racing home with a grip on the tail of an annoyed, elephant-sized (wait for it) "KITTY!" Graves presents the tale in big, sequential panels of simply drawn cartoons, with dialogue in balloons and sound effects as outsized as Trog's not-exactly-domesticated companions. Trog is depicted with white skin, an impressive mop of blond hair, and a one-armed fur onesie. Not so different from having a "puppy" of the canine sort. Except for the stripes. And the impressive teeth. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

Although Trog has the best toys a cave boy could wish for—a stick, a rock, and plenty of mud—what he really wants is a puppy. He sets off to find one, but the scaly, spiny-backed beast he brings home looks suspiciously more reptilian than canine. Puppies are notorious for chewing, but Trog’s pet, with its mouthful of sharp teeth, takes chewing to a whole new level, munching and chomping through all the rock and stone in Trog’s family cave. Even worse, the creature is clearly unhappy, crying for its parent no matter how Trog tries to distract it. Both the text and cartoonish illustrations with digital artwork are sure to get laughs, like when Trog’s parents point out the “bad poopy” on the cave floor. The simple text includes plenty of onomatopoeia and speech bubbles, which help make this excellent for dramatic read-alouds or independent beginning readers. Give this to fans of James Marshall, Mo Willems, and other funny authors for plenty of laugh-out-loud fun. Reviewer: Heather Christensen; Ages 3 to 5.

Children's Literature - Heather Christensen