Sally’s Big Day

In Andrew Larsen’s picture book romp, Sally, the puppy, is well intentioned but… distracted. She wants to pay attention at her new puppy school, but, with so many interesting things going on (Smells! Trees! Going pee!), Sally just can’t sit still. And who can blame her? All small children understand that sometimes sitting still, no matter how hard you try, is just impossible.

Larsen clearly understands the drama of sitting and listening when you are a young child. A puppy in obedience training is the perfect corollary to the experience of “failing” and, ultimately, trying again until you succeed. Dawn Lo’s quirky and saturated illustrations are a perfect accompaniment for our wiggly and disobedient heroine. Sally’s exaggerated round form captures that insatiable desire puppies have to keep moving. A fun extra of the title are the hidden rabbits on (almost) every page. Your child will likely enjoy spotting them all: I count twenty-nine.

While my own children were not bothered in the least, I did feel the plot of the story could have benefitted from further textual depth. Often a picture book of this length is strengthened by sparse text; however, here, a few sentences could help the reader move between the events of Sally’s day. As it stands, the reader is able to infer how Sally moves from moment to moment, but minimal additional clarity would strengthen the work.