Puppy Preschool
I vaguely remember enjoying Clifford the Big Red Dog stories when I was little and my little one did enjoy this story. The story was requested more than once. But reading it now, it’s not my favorite. The style of writing is too simple. Clearly the audience is the littlest of the little ones, but my philosophy is not to dumb down our language and reading styles just because my little one is little. Little ones are able to understand far more complex interactions than most people give them credit for. However, simple as it was, it was entertaining for my little one.
In this story, a new little puppy is added to the mix of Clifford’s existing friends, but the new puppy, Hudson, is a bit naughty. In the end, Clifford figures out how to help the puppy behave.
The story is illustrated in the same method all of the Clifford the Big Red Dog books we’ve seen, cartoony, simple drawings - of which there is nothing wrong with them, little ones tend to love them, they just won’t be winning any awards.
Cautions: Two minor concerns: 1) the new puppy is naughty, though that wasn’t very difficult to understand or explain as it wasn’t naughty behavior I would be concerned about my little one imitating and the behavior reflects little puppy behavior in reality; 2) this is more a general comment about Clifford, who because of his size and color was difficult to explain to my little one. By the time my little one was big enough to understand imagination and reality, the book was too simple. The overall problem we have with the entire series is that the Clifford, a giant red dog, is the main character of a series that is aimed at little ones who are so young it makes it difficult to understand how a giant red dog could exist.
