Puppy Summer by Meindert DeJong; pictures by Anita Lobel, 1966.

DeJong is a great children's writer (The Wheel on the School and Along Came a Dog are terrific) who can turn very simple situations into understated gems. I usually like Anita Lobel's illustrations very much. But alas, this book is somewhat less than the sum of its parts. The three puppies (Smith, Brown, & Jones) are cute in both the pictures and the descriptions. But the story of Jon and Vestri's summer vacation with Grandma and Grandpa, during which they take home the three puppies, isn't particularly memorable.