In an expanded version of the popular song from the fifties, a boy tries to earn money for a dog but instead spends it on good deeds, such as frozen yogurt for his little sister after she bangs her knee. Eventually, he is rewarded with the dog. Both the text and the illustrations are saccharine and inconsistent. Melody, guitar chords, and all thirteen verses appear on the last page, but the bar lines have been carelessly omitted.

PreS-Gr 3--Patti Page made this song popular in the 1950s and now, with slightly different words and 13 verses for additional parental torment, it is surely destined for renewed life in kindergarten classrooms. In this jolly version, a little boy falls in love with a spotted puppy but doesn't have enough money to buy it. He sets to work to earn and save, but family needs (baby sister requiring the comfort of a yogurt cone, Mom's bee sting that only a chocolate bar will make better, Dad's allergies that require a box of tissues, etc.) put a hole in the piggy bank. When he finally goes back to the pet shop, the doggie is gone. It has been purchased for someone's very special son. Guess who. Trapani's watercolors are full of expressive detail, sweet without being saccharine. Another all's well that ends well tale.--Ruth Semrau, formerly at Lovejoy School, Allen, TX