In 2006, Happy Birthday Puppy was included in the 14th Annual

Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards. Although it

did not win the Grand Prize, the judges did have wonderful comments!

Judges' Commentary on Happy Birthday Puppy...

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning poor and 5 meaning excellent, here is what the Writer's Digest Judges had to say about Happy Birthday Puppy:


Structure and Organization: 3
Grammar: 3
Cover Design: 4


What did you like best about this book?

The book's cute, nicely rendered illustrations make Puppy automatically appealing to kid readers. The story is a simple one, simply told, about a simple event that'd be very familiar to the reader -- a birthday party -- making it doubly appealing to a kid reader because everything that happens to Puppy -- the cake, the pin the tail on the donkey game, etc. -- has probably happened to them.

The story is fast moving with definite read aloud appeal, and is a story that can probably be easily read by kids on their own as well. Puppy is an appealing character that kids should love.