Puppy!

PreS-Gr 2—Trog has everything that a cave boy could possibly want, from sticks to stones—even mud. But what he really desires more than anything is a puppy, which he finds one day out in the prehistoric fields. The "puppy" is of course a baby dinosaur, but that doesn't stop Trog from dragging the reluctant animal back to his cave. Trog tries to get his puppy to adapt to life with his family, but it clearly does not want to stay no matter how hard Trog tries to please it. The boy then must decide whether keeping his puppy at home is truly fair to his animal. The story does seem fairly familiar, but children will enjoy seeing Trog's reptilian puppy tear through his house, and the simple language makes this title a great choice for beginning readers. Graves's simple cartoon illustrations add to the lighthearted feel of the book, while his gritty outlines match the crudeness of the time period.