Dog-Eared Reads: The Christmas Puppy

We dip into the children’s section of the library for today’s Dog-Eared Reads book review with”The Christmas Puppy.”

The Christmas Puppy is a 1999 chapter book written by Roberta Grobel Intrater and illustrated by Bruce McNally.

Told in first-person narration, it is based on a true story from the author’s family, according to a note at the end.

Storyline

One Memorial Day, Zach, his mother and his grandma go stop by the animal shelter while running errands, where a Beagle-type puppy falls in love with them, and they adopt her on the spot, naming her Tina due to her small size.

This new addition surprises everyone at the extended family’s barbecue, including a cousin’s mean Poodle, and together the two dogs basically ruin the day for everyone, what with eating all the food, peeing on the carpet and biting everybody’s ankles.

Tina chews up shoes, gnaws table legs and happily devours a set of colored markers, and escapes the yard every chance she gets. On the other hand, Zach is able to teach her how to catch Frisbees and fetch tennis balls, and she becomes an excellent watchdog.

In mid-September during a birthday party, Tina is let into the backyard and everybody forgets where she went. An early snowstorm whips up, and when Mom finally remembers that nobody let Tina back in, she’s nowhere to be found.

Weeks pass, and still no sign of Tina. When Christmas comes around, Zach and Mom are clothes shopping when they spot a homeless man with a dog that looks an awful lot like Tina.

They confront the man, who explains that this dog – now called “Princess” – saved his life during the September snowstorm, waking him up from his park bench so he could escape the blizzard.

Princess is also well-trained, knowing every basic command Zach’s family never quite could get her to learn. When police officers investigate the scene, Zach tells them that there’s been a mistake, and that Princess wasn’t stolen after all.

The homeless man’s name is Sam, and he and Princess often come over to Zach’s family’s home for dinner in the years that follow.

Summary

The Christmas Puppy is an excellent choice for a beginning reader and/or elementary student. It can be found on Thriftbooks. This should definitely be added to your bookshelves, and the illustrations are terrific, too.