I bought this book recently because Borders is going out of business, and I don't have a copy of it. Mama has the one I used to read as a child, and I wanted one at the house for when the nieces and nephews come over. The youngest four are of an age to enjoy it. 
 I just reread it again on 8-14-11, and was surprised at how many creatures of darkness there were in it. Peppered throughout the narrative is a spider, a snake, a lizard, a frog, and some bugs. In short, everything you need for the creepy-crawlie portions of an Indiana Jones movie are espied by the poky little puppy's four brothers and sisters. 
 What I like best about the book are the morals: 
 1) Misbehavior and sloth will net you a win two out of three times, and a neutral on the third. 
 2) Misbehavior and promptness will get you punishment two out of three times, but throwing your slow brother under the bus to your bitch of a mother who has her own eccentric sense of favoritism on the third will net you a prize. 
 No, really. Mother dog makes no sense. (view spoiler)[She admonishes the four regular puppies for being bad, and sends them to bed without dessert... TWICE. Then when the four puppies get caught doing the SAME THING they did the first two times, she lets them have strawberry shortcake after they fill in the hole they dug. Obviously the poky little puppy was in on the hole digging in the first place, but he comes home late because he's slow. When he gets there, the strawberry shortcake is gone, but the mother tells him "Well, I would've let you have some, but you're such a tard that you missed out. Sucks to be you." (hide spoiler)] Meanwhile the other puppies are probably sniggering over the matter. It's Stripe and the other mogwais picking on Gizzmo all over again. 
 There's nothing like promoting the value of watching your siblings' backs, and this book was nothing at all like that. But I'm still giving it five stars, because it's still awesome. Check it out, and read it to your children every day.