The pigeon wants a puppy!

2008

animals
infancy
juvenile fiction
dogs
fiction
pigeons
children's fiction
pigeons, fiction
animals, infancy, fiction
dogs, fiction

The story

He really, really, REALLY wants one. He'll take really good care of it! What's the matter--don't you want him to be happy? The latest book in the best-selling Pigeon series is the funniest one yet.

What it’s like

Bright, flat-colour digital art with thick black linework, the kind of clean, graphic page where a single pigeon fills the frame against a plain backdrop, and a speech bubble does most of the emotional work. Mo Willems' minimalist style gives the book a sparkling, uncluttered look, with bold type that swells and shrinks to match the pigeon's rising pleading. Reading it aloud is the whole experience: a pigeon who badgers, wheedles and insists in ever-bigger capital letters, while the reader plays the exasperated grown-up. The vibe is brisk, sunny and gently absurd, the sort of picture book to share on a lazy afternoon, at bedtime, or on a lap in a waiting room. Its tone stays light and comic throughout, with no violence, fear or cruelty, only the mild stakes of a small bird determined to get his way. Pacing is quick, built on page turns and punchlines, and the emotional arc is simply a stubborn character working up to a grudging, funny concession. It suits very young children, parents and teachers reading aloud, and anyone who wants something short, warm and cheerfully silly.

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