On an icy, December night, three puppies are rescued from the side of the road and taken to an animal shelter. Ruff and Tuff have a plan to ensure that their sister, Penny, finds a home for Christmas, even if they can't. But with the help of an older dog named Brownie, the puppies learn the true meaning of Christmas . . . and find a home for all four of them just in time.
This is a fixed-format ebook, which preserves the design and layout of the original print book.
October 1, 2011
PreS-Gr 1-After three puppies are abandoned at the side of the road, they are taken to a shelter, where an older dog named Brownie takes them under his wing and tells them that it's Christmas, a prime time to adopt puppies, although not older dogs. Luckily, a family adopts all three of them and Brownie as well. The happy ending is cozy, though the plot is flimsy, and while the illustrations of the dogs are cute, the depictions of people are stiff and cartoony.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2012
Three puppies abandoned by the roadside worry about their fate even after being put in a rescue shelter. Will all of the dogs find homes in time for Christmas? The bright illustrations don't do much more than reflect what's already in the sweet but simplistic text, though they do succeed in capturing the pups' liveliness and their emotions.
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
September 1, 2011
Puppies are abandoned, rescued and adopted in this predictable holiday story that features dogs that can think and talk to each other with a human level of communication.
The three talking puppies are a protective pair of brothers, Ruff and Tuff, and their shy sister, Penny. At the animal shelter they befriend an older gray dog, Brownie, who advises the brothers to act wild and naughty whenever prospective owners arrive so that their sister will find a home first. A family with two older sons and a younger sister comes to the shelter on Christmas Eve, and the little girl picks the quieter female puppy. But--surprise!--the boys want the male puppies, and the parents like the more mature, older dog, so they all go home together to the family farm. (Adult readers will have to suspend disbelief that a shelter would allow one family to take home four dogs at once.) The story is unobjectionable but unexceptional, and the Christmas setting doesn't elevate it from the ordinary acquiring-a-pet story. The large-format illustrations of the dogs are appealing, but there is a problem in differentiation among the puppies, as two have similar coloring.
This trio of pups tries to please but fails to deliver any holiday magic. (Picture book. 3-6)(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)