The Prince and the Pooch

Adventures of Wishbone #3

by Caroline Leavitt, Mark Twain

When Joe gets a chance to prove himself as coach and discovers that it is not as easy as it seems, Wishbone is reminded of the tale in which a poor boy trades places with the crown prince of England, each one believing that the other has the easier life.

Genres: Childrens, Animals, Fantasy, Fiction, Retellings, Middle Grade, Chapter Books

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Caroline Leavitt is the New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beautiful World, Is This Tomorrow, With or Without You, Pictures of You (Algonquin Books), which. Pictures of You was on the Best Books of the Year lists from the San Francisco Chronicle, The Providence Journal, Bookmarks and Kirkus Reviews. It was also a Costco Pennie's Pick. Is This Tomorrow was long listed for the Main Readers Prize, a WNBA Reading group Choice, A San Francisco Chronicle Lit Pick/Editor's Choice, a Jewish Book Club Pic and the winner of an Audiofile Earphones Award.

Her 13th novel DAYS OF WONDER will be published by Algonquin/Hatchette in the spring of 2024.

The winner of a New York Foundation of the Arts Grant, a second prize winner in Goldenberg Fiction Prize, A Sundance Screenwriting Lab Finalist, a Nickelodeon Screenwriting Fellowship Finalist and a National Magazine Award Nominee, Leavitt is a senior writing instructor at UCLA and Stanford online and a freelance manuscript consultant. Her work has appeared in New York Magazine, Psychology Today, Salon,More, and more.
She has been featured on The Today Show and profiled in the New York Times.

You can reach her through www.carolineleavitt.com. On twitter @leavittnovelist. On Instagram @carolineleavitt and FB https://www.facebook.com/carolineleav... @carowriter99

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library)]

Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper has gotten the celluloid treatment several times; there was even a VeggieTales episode based on it. So, of course it would get a Wishbone version as well. If you've read any of the other novels featuring that literature-loving Jack Russell terrier, you know what to expect...and that's what you get here. For fans like me, this is a treat; the only problem I had was that the copy I read today, which I purchased secondhand from eBay, had coloring in it. Then again, as someone who regularly buys books used, it's nothing I haven't seen already.

[Mom]

This was a very quick read. I remember the cartoon version with Mickey Mouse and this one is just as cute.

[Sarah Brewer]

2.5 stars
A pretty easy read
Starting with someone saying that they have a favorite Mark Twain novel is scary to me.
The novel itself is not bad, but the parallels between the retelling of the mark twain novel and the story of wishbones owner at a sport game connects fairly well

[Carmen K]

I can't say often enough how good this series is for children. It introduces classic literature in a fun and entertaining way. My son loves this series and we will be starting the next one.

[寿理 宮本]

I have not seen the show to know how Wishbone operates—is he an ACTUAL talking dog, or can we just hear his thoughts only, while we see everyone else around him act like he's a normal dog? The writing in this is a bit unclear, since the dialogue doesn't seem to show anyone reacting to anything Wishbone "says."

Either way, it's an *okay* read. It copies a very lot of The Prince and the Pauper—which I guess is "allowed" since it's public domain but still feels rather lazy—interspersed with a lesson for Joe on how "the other half" lives (coaches vs. players). The only thing I have to comment on for the Prince/Pauper part is skepticism about their families being human, while Wishbone imagines himself as Edward/Tom but still as a dog... a little weird? Why wouldn't the imagined King Henry and John Canty, etc. be dogs as well? I'd understand in a show (that's a LOT of dogs to train!), but this is a book! I don't know.

The "Joe as coach" part is... okay, I know I don't know much about Little League, but if the players are *FIVE YEARS OLD* and are regularly NOT PLAYING THE GAME [doing cartwheels, braiding each other's hair], do they really belong in Little League? Further, I'm not even remotely involved in sports, and I *really hate* the parents of players who get mad when their children's team loses or even starts losing. THEY ARE FIVE, and I question if they're even interested in playing T-ball, if they're acting the way they are in the game! Give me the dad in Little Teammate: Let's Play Baseball, who knows how to support his child, *win OR lose.* Heck, I was hoping Joe's team would lose and teach a lesson about good sportsmanship, but nope—gotta defuse the angry dad who doesn't know how to handle his FIVE-YEAR-OLD losing a game. Who's REALLY the child here?

Okay read for Wishbone/sports fans, but I don't know that I would read it again.

[J]

I have a few of these Wishbones laying around instead of the actual classics and so with part of my goals being to move books out this may be a good start.

The Prince and the Pooch is based off the episode of the same name so readers get the chance to read the unfolding of Joe, Wishbone's boy, learning the same lesson as Prince Edward and the pauper Tom Canty although in a modern background. As a result the story switches between the two main Twain characters as well as the modern events all while Wishbone narrates or offers commentary throughout.

The book ends with a note on both Mark Twain and the original story for those who are interested to learn more as this is most definitely an abridged version.

Since this is an adaptation of a TV series there isn't much character development even between the main characters. As a result even though Wishbone does keep his tone, the story does feel slow and repetitive.

And honestly if you get a chance it's just better to watch the series than read it.

[Chris]

I read this one because my sister gave it to me and I had a ball. Wishbone is such an adorable character and I had a lot of fun reading about him. This book was a spoof on The Prince and the Pauper and this may lead me to read that one soon. Although it was short, it took me a few days because I was busy. But this book was lots of fun nonetheless. Only reason its not a 5-star is because it's not as strong as some other books I read this year (11/22/63, The Stand and Recursion to name a few!) but this story was lots of fun and I'm excited to read more Wishbone.

[Enemby]

Wishbone was the singular experience as a kid that drove me to love literature and history. The simplified and easy to digest metaphors made my kid brain love learning. There is no better resource for your child than this book, and the TV series. This book is just as good as an episode, if not better.

[Ben Boulden]

An enjoyable retelling of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, with the added wonder of Wishbone and his gang. It catches the curiosity and humor of the television series, but adds, as only a novel can, an additional depth to the characters.

[John Peel]

I have to admit that I enjoy the adventures of Wishbone. They're full of silly jokes and amusing retellings of classic stories. This is of Mark Twain's "The Prince And The Pauper", entertainingly written.

[Nick Mason]

Wishbone meets Mark Twain in this enjoyable read. Once again I can probably be a little biased because I loved Wishbone as a kid, but I really did enjoy revisiting this book. I think Joe wanting to coach and thinking it’s easy really fit in well as a parallel to The Prince and the Pauper.

[Kerri]

Another cute Wishbone book. It has been a minute since I read The Prince and the Pauper, but this retelling was fun and easy for children to follow. TH1 said it was "pretty good" and especially liked the ending.

[Brittney LaHayne]

Phineas and Honora both loved this one!

[Kami]

- Gnome and I both loved this one. It was fun to imagine Wishbone as both Edward and Tom.

- This was a really fun introduction to The Prince and The Pauper. It is my favorite Mark Twain book, so I'm glad Gnome liked it and is interested in the story.

- Gnome laughed several times, especially when Wishbone helped Joe with coaching.

[Richardhd96]

Wishbone was watching Tom play his baseball game. Tom's team lost and Tom said it was because their coach wasn't coaching them right. The coach asked if Tom wanted to coach his own team. Tom said yes and this reminded Wishbone of the Prince and the Pauper. All of his life the Pauper wanted to see prince Edward. Not only did the Pauper see Edward he met him too. The Pauper told the prince things that he had never heard of before. The servants mistook the Pauper for prince and the pauper moved into the palace. Life was different for both of them. Life was hard for the prince and now the pauper had everything handed to him. Not only was the prince gone but now his father had died too. Now the Pauper was going to become king. The prince met a man named Miles. Miles helped the prince get back to the palace in time for the coronation. The Prince and the Pauper learned that they had two very different lives. The team Tom coached ended up winning the game. It was hard for Tom to coach that team. He learned the same thing that the prince and the Pauper learned.
I thought "Wishbone: the Prince and the Pauper" was an okay book. I didn't really like that he imagined himself as the Prince and Pauper. I liked that Tom coached kids younger than him and not kids his own age. The story was based on a real book so that made it different. I think it was odd though that the prince was a dog and his dad was a human. I really didn't understand why dogs could talk to people in the Prince and The Pauper part, but not in Wishbones real life. I would recommend this book to people who really like dogs.

[Noelle Walsh]

This was a really good book. Not only did it bring on the nostalgia (as I loved watching Wishbone as a kid), I found I was curious as the the original work, The Prince and The Pauper, a book I'm still trying to find. This book is certainly worth reading, though.

[Twyla]

My favorite part was when joe didnt have to be a coach any longer. The worst part was when noone liked joe as a coach. My favorite character was wishbone. The worst character was the person who didnt like joe. Auryn 10 years old, 2014

[Cws]

JMAR4-Wis

[Emily Lucas]

I thought it was a little bit boring and slow. It was very predicable at the end.

[Kaethe]

As far as kid-friendly books go, the Wishbone series are fun for the parent. The puns!