Pride Puppy! [Robin Stevenson]

W for wags and wide smiles all around.

When I first picked up Robin Stevenson and illustrator Julie McLaughlin’s Pride Puppy, I admittedly wasn’t expecting an alphabet book. I was, however, very excited for the premise. Basically, the family puppy escapes while they’re out for Pride and everyone around does their best to help him find his way home. Honestly, this is a beautiful book on that theme alone.

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I loved every second of Pride Puppy! From the diverse illustrations to the masterful and lyrical language. You can almost hear the song of it all as you’re reading. Robin Stevenson definitely knew what she was doing with this book. I’ll be honest, I can’t think of a single thing to criticize about it. I just loved this book, plain and simple.

The characters have personality and emotions all throughout. You get a genuine story from start to finish. It’s a fun read. And of course, there are the clear emotional moments in the background that touch on what it’s like to lose your dog. But it didn’t ever really take away from the excitement of the book. I think, as readers, you know without a doubt that those tears are going to disappear soon as pup is sure to be found.

And then there’s that word list search at the end, basically sending you back through the book once again to find all the illustrations you, no doubt, missed in your first read. It starts with A, listing things like alligator (a toy you can find on the A page). This was such a simple and brilliant thing to include. I’m honestly just in awe.

Puppy!

And oh my goodness, that artwork. It was so beautiful, so colorful, so exciting! I don’t think you could really turn a single page without your eyes being drawn to something utterly dazzling. I think the colors are what shines the most, of course. For children’s books, colors are so important. Those are the things that are going to keep the littles engaged with a book. I don’t think anyone will have trouble introducing this one to their kids.

The puppy is adorable, the characters are all so incredibly unique. I mentioned above that they all very clearly have personality and a lot of that is due to the exquisite artwork. I mean, this is an alphabet book and there’s only so much that’s told through the alphabet. You experience so much more when you include the artwork. Of course, I don’t think the artwork would be as impactful without the language, either.

This story just flows so well together.