Little Dog Lost, Little Dog Found

Little dog lost, little dog found
Esphyr Slobodkina ~ Abelard-Schuman, 1956

A protege of Margaret Wise Brown and most famous for her book Caps for Sale, I snagged this quote off the Slobodkina website from Esphyr because her insight about children's books it is just soooo right on...

In her memoir she wrote, “The verbal patterns and the patterns of behavior we present to children in these lighthearted confections are likely to influence them for the rest of their lives. These aesthetic impressions, just like the moral teachings of early childhood, remain indelible.”

This, my friends... right here... this is why I do what I do. This is why I collect these books. This is why I spend one to three hours a day reading to my son. And I imagine, this is why you guys are here too. Awesome.

And so the story goes of Johnny and his best little dog Jet...

But Jet had one very bad habit!
Jet was careless, and no matter
how Johnny tried to teach him
to be more careful, he always
managed to lose his dog-tag....

And thus, Jet eventually becomes lost, impounded, and adopted by a nice, old woman. Though eventually Johnny and Jet are reunited, it is not before they change one lonely lady's life forever. An innocent story, which in an era where my son's after-preschool rambling often include killing, dieing and Pokemon (wha!!) is very much needed to keep his good guy alter-ego intact. Thank heaven for boys who still wanna snuggle and read at the end of the day.

Also by:
Pezzo the Peddler and the Circus Elephant
The Wonderful Feast
Caps for Sale