Member Reviews

I love the idea of pugtato and all of the other veggie-animals in this story. That is so clever. And it's one of those rare rhyming books that seems to get the meter right. Unfortunately, the story itself fell just a little short for me.

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Pugtato Finds a Thing by Zondervan (Author) and Sophie Corrigan (Illustrator) is a super cute book! Pugtato finds a purple Thing one day and goes to each one of his friends to figure out what it is. He thinks he is not as smart as everyone else, so goes through each friend in the garden. I love how every friend is a food/animal combo, ex: Caticorn. I think it is very unique and it will allow kids to learn about some vegetables that they might not eat all the time.

I think the illustrations in a kids book is key and they did not dissapoint here! The illustrations were great! This light hearted book is great for kids! The last illustration is my favorite!. The book is written in rhyme so it is more of a fun read.

I would recommend this book!

Thank you to Net Galley and Zonderkidz-Books for providing me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Release Date August 4, 2020
Zonderkidz-Books
Children's Fiction

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I enjoyed this book I do a 5 minute journal with my jr kids and they would make up words by putting two together, this book would fit perfectly and then the could add an illustration. The story itself is cute and the vegetable animal mix it cute!

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Pugtato Finds a Thing is an adorable picture book. A quick and easy rhyme read with the most darling illustrations. It is creative and holds children's attention.

Pugtato (a potato that looks like a pug) find a purple, round Thing while playing in the dirt. Perplexed, he brings Thing around to his friends, Tomatoad, Collieflower, the Brussels Snouts and everyone who sees Thing has a different opinion what what Thing is.

I've seen a couple reviews about "the meaning" of Pugtato. Sure, the moral of the story isn't in your face but sometimes a children's story is enjoyable just as a story and doesn't need a deeper meaning. An mash-up of animals and produce is an cute story line that provides giggle opportunities for children and parents.

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Pugtato finds a thing that he is trying to find out what it is. He goes to all his vegetable friends and they have their own ideals. It is when Pugtato follows his heart that he knows what his thing is.

A Special Thank You to ZonderKitz Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

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Review to come to my blog on July 30th and to Goodreads on August 17th.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I just adore pugs and this is a pug that is a potato? Sign me up! Plus, I was definitely curious about what he finds and what he will do with it. But after reading it I can tell it was cute... but that was it.

Let's start at the beginning where we meet our pugtato (he is so adorable) and see him dig around and dig up something very shiny. I really loved what he found and wouldn't mind having something like that on a shelf in my home. I loved that he decided to ask his friends. I loved that his friends were all vegetable animals and had delightful puns on their names (Croccoli, Collieflower). I loved the designs and the illustrations of the animals. The ending was cute. I liked seeing the garden and who and what lived there.

But I didn't like the repetitiveness of it all. It was just veggie animal after veggie animal after veggie animal. I would have rather seen the Pugtato figure things out himself instead of asking his friends. Or maybe having him first question it himself a bit more before asking a select group of his friends. I would have liked to see his friends treat this new thing with more care. Quite often they just yanked it from Pugtato's hands without a freaking care in the world. That is not how friends do things, and if they do? Maybe find new friends. Friends treat things with respect.

As you can see I am a bit mixed up on this book. On the one hand there were things I enjoyed... but the things I didn't enjoy did pull down the fun of the book by quite a bit. So I am going to be rating this one 2.5 stars.

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I'm a sucker for cute animals and these are cute animals and vegetables mashups and it's so adorable. from the title, a mashup of a pug and a potato finds something in the ground and starts asking around about it. The art is so cute.


I thank Netgalley and Zonderkidz for the digital ARC.

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Pugtato Finds a Thing is a cute kids story. It is fun to see the animal vegetable combinations and read their creative names. I love the message of the story about following your heart. My reason for only four stars is because I think the vegetable and animal combinations make the story tricky to follow at times.

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This is the most precious baby I have ever seen.

I am in love with this book. Great rhyming and even better vegetable puns! I know kids of all ages will love this book and all the fun it holds inside! Useful for both classrooms and at home.

Go grab your bestest spuddies and read this book with them!

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Title: Pugtato Finds a Thing
Release Date: 8.4.2020
Review Date: 5.15.2020

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one is super fun. The illustrations are really cute and the play on words of all the characters is adorable.

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Ah, Pugtato. Once of the best names I've seen in a very long time for a book. The name alone made me pick this book up, but the premise and story kept me hanging on.

Pugtato is a pug who is also a potato. He's cute, adorable and likes to play in the mud. One day he finds a shiny things and decides to show his buddies, er.... spuddies. Many of the animals are also vegetable themed creatures, and all of them get to see the shiny thing pugtato has found!

This book was ridiculously cute and the premise is one of my favourites of the year. It's comedic and fun and everything you want in a children's picture book.

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zonderkiz Books for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

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This book was absolutely adorable! I loved the illustrations and the witty puns. Perfect for a read aloud! I hope I can purchase it for my elementary library in the near future.

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I cannot open this file. I only review books that can be downloaded to my Kindle. Sorry. Xxxxxxxxxcxxcccccccc

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This book is simply adorable and super creative! Loved the storyline, the characters, and the lesson. Would definitely add this one to our shelf at home!

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I love Pugtato and his very punny friends! This would be a delightful storytime read, sure to make both kids and adults giggle and smile.

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Brilliant and imaginative!

After digging in the mud, Pugtato discovers a shiny purple object in the ground and can’t figure out what it is. He decides to ask all of his best ‘spuddies’ Tweetroot, Tomatoad, Purrsnip, Carrat, and others just exactly what this Thing could be. Each of them have their own ideas, but Pugtato soon learns that the answer is within him if he’ll only look to his heart.

We fell in love with this book. The rhyming story paired with the charming illustrations will have children captivated. These hybrid animal/veggies are all so clever and have the cutest names too. There isn’t anything we didn’t like about it.

Pugtato Finds a Thing is a beautiful story of friendship, love, and most importantly, believing in yourself. We need more children’s books like this. I highly recommend this for parents, schools and libraries. I’ll certainly be recommending this one to our local librarian.

5*****

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I love this imaginative little book. It can be used to start games and lessons around shapes and art. Kids will love the vegetable animals.

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Ok so I'm a school counselor and I'm always looking for fun stuff to share with my littles. I also love pugs. OMG THIS WAS FANTASTIC and I see there are more! This book was the cutest ever and so perfect for children.
The illustrations were amazing. All the animals were portrayed in plant form which I thought was very unique and clever. The story was sweet and had a moral. I plan on buying these books for my classroom bookshelf. I can't wait to read these after this Corona stuff is over.

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I love pugs. I love potatoes. I love puns. This book has them all! Cute story. Cute illustrations. Cute animal-veggie hybrids. I would definitely buy this for a kid in my life if I had any in the right age rang. Truly a delight.

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Pugtato is a wonderfully illustrated picture book filled with a lot of play on words that kids and adults will definitely all enjoy. However, I found the story ending a little confusing and felt like perhaps I missed something.

In Pugtato Finds a Thing, Pugtato is digging around in the mud when he finds a shiny round purple round thing. Having no idea what it is, Pugtato starts asking all of his different friends – Tweetroot (a turnip bird), Tomatoad (tomato-looking toad) and many others what they think it might be. Each give their thoughts to Pugtato and begin to use it as they saw best, but none of it felt right to Pugtato. Finally, he gets some advice to follow his heart.

The illustrations are terrific. Bright and vibrant colors are used throughout, but the highlight is how the drawings bring characters to life. Characters like Cowbbage (a cow/cabbage combination) or Purrsnip (a cat/parsnip combo) will delight readers both young and old. I can even picture many fun conversations over each of the animal-vegetables.

Although the pictures were the best part for me, I was left confused by the story. I completely understand that Pugtato finds a purple shiny ball, but I never could figure out what it was, which I knew would be ok because I was sure the ending would do a ‘big reveal.’ However, even the ending left me perplexed as I tried to figure out how hugs and snails and a purple ball went together. After re-reading it several more times I now have an inkling of an idea of what it all might mean, but I’m not sure an adult should have to read it that many times to understand it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Zondervan for the advanced reader copy and opportunity to provide an honest review.

Rating: 3 stars

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