I’ve Got a Yellow Puppy

First published in The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes (1918).

This rhyme captures childhood at its most matter-of-fact — proud, slightly boastful, and completely unbothered. The little narrator is showing off treasures one by one: a puppy, a hen, a pen full of pigs, even a toy gun that doesn’t quite work anymore. You can hear the rhythm of a child listing their favorite things just to make sure you know how lucky they are.

And then comes the twist — that dry little ending where the mother, half amused, half exasperated, blames the whooping-cough on all this running about. It’s funny because it feels true. Every parent has thought the same thing at some point.

Blanche Fisher Wright’s illustration matches that simple honesty. A child in a backyard, holding the puppy like a prize, a chicken clucking nearby — it’s plain, but it says everything. It’s the world of early childhood: a few pets, a patch of grass, and the sense that every small thing belongs to you.