Pug

July 15, 2016
"Yap yap yap" has never been so expressive or so insistent. Pug wants to go out, but it's snowing and no one wants to walk the dog. Using just 11 one-syllable words, Long tells a complete story that is familiar to any dog owner. The sentences follow a predictable, subject-verb-object pattern. The longest sentence is just four words long ("Pug wants to go"). The few words are repeated often, making this a confidence builder for the youngest beginning readers. Pug exudes energy, beginning on the frontmatter display of nine digitally manipulated images of this dog, which has the characteristic tightly curled tail and broad, flat, wrinkled muzzle of the breed. Young children will quickly chime in on Pug's "yap yap yap" refrain, which dominates the pages. Charming and clutter-free illustrations match the brief text and add information for picture readers to glean. The humans--Dad, Mom, and Tad--are equally easy to read. On the final page the pugnacious pet's persistence wins out. When Pug finally catches up to Peg, both dogs and owners look shyly pleased to be walking together. Tad is white, while Peg's owner is curly-haired and brown-skinned. Perhaps a friendship is blooming. New readers will be happy to yap along with this pup. How about a sequel? (Picture book/early reader. 3-7)

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August 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 1-One snowy day, Pug sees his friend Peg outside and wants to join her, but no one is willing to leave the cozy house to go for a walk. Only when the pup threatens to misbehave does Tad give in to his insistent pleas. By the time they make it outside, Peg is nowhere to be seen. Pug's frantic yapping results in a burst of answering yaps, and Pug is happy at last to be with Peg. With a large font and a vocabulary of only a dozen words, this beginning reader is designed at the easiest level. It's sure to delight pug owners and Long's many fans. VERDICT A fun story for beginning readers, with a supersimple vocabulary.-Gaye Hinchliff, King County Library System, WA

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