PreS-Gr 1-Children love puppies and squirrels. Drop those two ubiquitous characters into a natural fall setting, and you get the idea behind this bright picture book, told from the perspective of the dog's owner. The use of gouache gives a clean, exquisitely bright quality to the close-ups of nature that proceed page after page. A spirited golden retriever smells acorns and has great fun digging them up in a sunflower garden, a pumpkin patch, under an apple tree, until she comes upon a squirrel, confronting her in a nearly wordless spread. Leading up to that point, young viewers and listeners will notice with anticipation the squirrel's presence getting closer and closer. The squirrel wants to know what the pup is doing digging up the 10 acorns purposely hidden for winter. Instead of quarreling, the puppy suggests, "We can play a new game,/It's called Put Back the Acorn." An endearing spread shows them doing just that. Young readers will pore over the details in these simple, realistic illustrations, full of love for the natural world, and will find themselves reflected in the playful, cooperative story line.-Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A pleasant golden retriever puppy finds a stash of acorns in her backyard as well as a new friend in this super-simple tale suitable for toddlers moving from board books into real stories.The unnamed female puppy is sniffing the fall breeze when she catches an intriguing scent, digs furiously and finds her first buried acorn. She digs up a total of ten acorns in different locations in her yard relating to the fall scene, such as a pile of leaves and a pumpkin patch. In each illustration the squirrel who buried the acorns is watching, but partially hidden behind leaves or fence or wheelbarrow. When the squirrel confronts the puppy about the acorns, the dog agrees to change her game from "find the acorn" to "put back the acorn." The final pages show the two animals working together to replace the acorns in their hiding places in the yard. The short, easy text is set in large type with just a sentence or a few words per page. Though the plot seems slight at first, there is a real story here about taking things that don't belong to you and putting things right after a misunderstanding, right on target for younger preschoolers. Gouache illustrations of the appealing puppy and concerned squirrel use simple layouts and lots of white space to convey the amusing antics of the puppy, decked out in a red polka-dot bandana that provides a bright contrast with the pumpkins on the cover illustration.Short, sweet and satisfying.(Picture book. 2-5)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

An unnamed but awfully appealing blond puppy takes center stage in this little ditty about having fun but being responsible, too. While digging in the backyard, the pup uncovers an acorn. 'This is fun!' she said. So she followed her nose a little farther . . . and started to dig a little more. Up comes another acorn and then another. So it goes, as the puppy digs all across the lawn, turning up 10 acorns in a variety of spots, each of which George illustrates with irrepressible joy: in a multicolored pile of leaves, beneath a yellow wheelbarrow, in an orange pumpkin patch, and so on. Eagle-eyed readers, though, will notice a second character peeking from behind the weeds: a gray squirrel who is none too happy with the puppy's pastime acorns are not a game to the squirrel! Thankfully, a two-page spread shows the new animal friends returning the acorns to their rightful hiding places. Bright, colorful, snappy, happy, and with only the scantest wisp of a plot, this is perfectly pitched for beginning readers (and counters).--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist