{My thoughts} – I'm sure by now most parents have heard of Clifford the Big Red Dog. I have watched the tv adaptation numerous times with my older children. I have not however, had the opportunity to introduce the babies to it at this point. I may need to after reading this book with my two year old.

I really enjoyed reading this book with my daughter. She seemed to love it just as much. She was happy and liked looking at all the illustrations. I think she found it interesting that Clifford was so much bigger then Emily Elizabeth in the book. Here at home we have two very small dogs, so she is use to dogs that are smaller then people.

This book is a nice beginner reader. It has short sentences on each page. It has simple illustrations and it is easy to read. I enjoy reading short books to my babies and this one although it has a lot of pages is a short book. My daughter had no issues with sitting on my lap while I'd read through the book with her. The entire time she'd been pointing at the pictures and I was telling her what was what. This book helped to open up a whole new learning experience for her as we were able to go over opposites and some other words that we have not run across in books yet.

I recommend this book for any younger child. It makes a nice story book. It makes a nice beginner reader. If your child decides they like it maybe consider looking into getting some more of the Clifford the Big Red Dog books that have been released in the past. ( )

Independent Reading Level: Kindergarten- 1st grade
Honors/Awards: none ( )

Independent reading level: grades 1

We read this as part of the ABC Jesus Loves Me year one curriculum. Little One loves seeing the big red dog and I found the story enjoyable as well. I think older kiddos will find a lot of humor in Clifford's mistakes. ( )

I previously reviewed a 1969 printing. This newer edition of Clifford's first book has a redrawn cover to better match his depiction on the PBS show and full-color printing. It's also 16 pages shorter by combining text and pictures on the same page. This 39th printing in 2001 has a coloring error on the fourth story page ("Other kids have dogs, too. Some are big dogs.") where Clifford's red tummy has actually been colored sky blue, making him appear as if he is only hip, leg, and tail. I'm curious to see if newer editions have fixed that. ( )