Clifford's secret origin story! Emily Elizabeth's love and a desperate wish turn a runty red puppy that might not make it through the winter into the biggest dog in the world. It's a shame Clifford got so big though, because puppy Clifford is just about the cutest little thing in the world. ( )

In my opinion this is an okay book. The language and writing of the book is patterned. The whole story is based on Clifford and him growing, so as the book goes on it can somewhat be guessed about what is said next about Clifford. In a way, this can be engaging for readers and wanting to know what happens next. For example, it says “daddy said, I think he is growing.” Then on the next page it says, Clifford really was growing!” The point of view was in first person from the little girl. This allows the readers to connect to the main character and going through the struggle with their parents and something they love. The illustrations connect with the text. When the text talks about Clifford growing, you can go from page to page and see how much bigger he gets throughout the story. For example, it says “But how? He couldn’t go through the door.” Then the image with this text shows just Clifford’s feet because he was so big he could not fit onto the page. The book pushes readers to think about issues if they ever have with their parents and able to prove to them that they are responsible and can take care of things they love. The message of this book is responsibility and how strong compassion and love can be when you set your mind to it. ( )

Emily Elizabeth tells her friend Martha of how she got her dog clifford and how he got so big.
2 book

I liked this book for many reasons. First, the writing used a lot of site words for children to read. It would be a great book for children learning to read and identify site vocabulary. The language was written at a young level, so children would be able to understand what is going on in the story. The characters are well developed as we see Clifford grow older with Emily and how she takes care of him. The illustrations are bring and colorful with a lot of detail. children could look at the pictures to better their comprehension of the story as well as retell the story on their own.The big idea or message of the book was how the family dealt with Clifford because he was so giant. It is clear the love the family had for their dog. ( )

Clifford the small red puppy by Norman Bridwell
This audio book has first section with turn page signals. Second half is without the signals.
Emily Elizabeth is the reader and she describes the story. She tells her friend how she got Clifford.
The story follows how the puppy grows up and how they learned along the way.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). ( )