So we’ve been reading a *lot* of the children’s classic "The Poky Little Puppy" lately … click here for a high-fallutin’ review on Wikipedia:
Thus, the rebel discovers the consequences of his actions, though in a
round-about way. Children might relate to this pattern of behavior and
consequences because they, too, are attempting to understand the
differences between conformity and rebellion and the consequences of
each.
Errr, right. Well, I have taken a far more literal interpretation of the story and have the following issues that I’d like to bring up with the author, Janette Sebring Lowery, although I may have to deal with her estate or the good people at Golden Books as proxy:
- Why doesn’t the Poky Little Puppy’s mother wait up for him when he returns after his siblings so?
- Doesn’t she wonder who eats the dessert every night if she puts the other four puppies to bed without dessert?
- The next morning, doesn’t she ask the Poky Little Puppy where he was out the night before, why he didn’t come home, etc.?
- Is the Poky Little Puppy’s mother the one who writes the signs near the fence about how puppies aren’t to dig holes, puppies who dig holes get no dessert, etc.?
- Because dogs can’t read or write.
- Wouldn’t it be more effective for her to take an active role and keep an eye on the puppies when they are in the yard (in order to reduce the temptation to dig holes) rather than punishing them once they return?
- Does the Poky Little Puppy’s mother *want* her children to disobey her?
- I mean, isn’t she being sort of an enabler?
- At the end of the book, after his brothers and sisters cover up the hole they dug, the Poky Little Puppy has to squeeze into the yard through a wide hole in the fence. Can’t he just dig another hole?
- Do puppies really get to eat chocolate custard, rice pudding and strawberry short cake on a regular basis?
- If so, can they really smell it if they are out in the wide, wide world?
- Why can the puppies talk, but not the snake, hop-toad, spider and other animals?
- When they hear rice pudding being spooned into their dishes, why do they say "someone" is doing it? Why not say their mother is doing so?
- Why hasn’t their mother noticed the Poky Little Puppy’s obvious issues with food, and his equation of food to love? Because he eats dessert by himself after everyone else has gone to bed, presumable filled with shame, in the dark.
- Shouldn’t she have a talk with him about it?
That said, I do enjoy reading the book — and yes, I insert many of these questions as I read it to Jacob, which seems to annoy Juliet — and like the fact that they use the word "pell-mell," which was the Miriam-Webster "Word of the Day" earlier this week.
