Penelope Positano Sees It All - Katie Cotugno - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Katie Cotugno

ILLUSTRATOR: Amy Jindra Hodgson

SERIES: Penelope Positano

GENRE: Children's Chapter Book.

PUBLICATION DATE: April 14, 2026

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A chapter book about a girl looking for the right dog to get as a pet. The cover is a bit misleading. The title is more indicative of the story. Good characters. Nice depiction of family closeness. Not as much canine content as expected. A decent option for early readers just transitioning to chapter books, as long as they want a story about a little girl and not one about a dog.

Plot Preview:

Ever since Penelope Positano turned seven, she has wanted a dog. Now after six long months, her parents have finally agreed to get her one from the shelter. Penelope’s best friend Gus also got a shelter dog some months ago, and he tells Penelope that she will know which dog is meant for her as soon as she sees it. But even after a couple of visits to the shelter, Penelope cannot find *her* dog. Now what?

The story in this book is cute, but I think the cover sets the wrong expectations. From the cover art (which I absolutely love, by the way!), I thought this would be a story of a grumpy dog who turns calmer and friendlier with an enthusiastic new friend/owner. Seeing so many other dogs in the background also made me assume that the story would be full of dogs. The first assumption was entirely incorrect; the second, partially right.

As the book is about Penelope’s quest to find the right dog for her, a major chunk of the book doesn’t even have any active canine presence. We do see her looking at dogs in the shelter, and there’s also a one-line reference to Gus’s dog Ravioli (whose illustration is adorable! 😍) But all these dogs are in the background, with the central focus almost always on Penelope. That said, I love that the Positano family decides to adopt a dog from the shelter and the book portrays a positive picture of shelter dogs. I hope this encourages kids and parents to think about offering love to shelter dogs.

Though just a short chapter book of about 80 pages (some of which contain only illustrations), the text does a great job of letting us know Penelope’s family members well. Her parents have contrary personalities, which leads to some funny scenes. Mom is super-organised and Dad is a free-spirited artist. But the best character is Penelope’s Grandma, even though I didn’t like the repeated reference to her fondness for gossip. Gus is also a good character though with a smaller role. Penelope’s elder sister Pearl unfortunately doesn’t get much page space.

One inclusion I absolutely loved in this story was Penelope’s eye patch. (We can see her wearing one on the cover as well.) I initially thought this would be a quirky yet token addition, but the text actually explains why she wears the patch and also utilises its effect in enhancing Penelope’s “sees it all” tendency promised by the title.

On the other hand, the book takes the tag of ‘chapter book’ too seriously at times, with each chapter containing one specific event. Where the event contributes to the main plot, it’s fine. But many times, some intriguing things are mentioned but not developed further. For instance, the house next to Penny’s has a ghost residing in it. (This line is mentioned twice and the ghost is even seen in the illustrations!), Granny has a secret pen pal she exchanges letters with, Gus loves wearing a three-piece suit all the time, even when he’s just coming over the play with Penelope. All such curious happenings! But we don’t go beyond this info. What I wrote here is all that the book contains – no further explanations. Even when things seem integral to the plot, they don’t always get detailing. For instance, one chapter has Pearl upset after returning home from school, but we don’t learn what happened at school – it is just brushed aside with a “I don’t want to talk about it.”

The illustrations are adorable. My ARC didn’t have the completed art, but based on the few finished graphics and the remaining B&W placeholder sketches, the full-colour art promises to be a fabulous complement to the story. The only confusing thing is that the grumpy dog on the cover is nowhere in the story by description. The dog that Penelope ultimately chooses (This isn't a spoiler, right? Surely you can guess a children’s book will have a happy ending!) has different physical features from what the cover dog has. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This chapter book is officially aimed at readers aged 6-9, but the story might be a bit too simplistic for the older kids in that age group. It might work better for the 6-7 year olds, and maybe even as a read-aloud option for kids aged five.

Overall, this isn't a bad book, but by focussing more on the girl than on the dog, and by adding too many unrelated topics, the end result feels a bit half-baked. Then again, the actual readers of this book will be many decades younger than I am, so maybe they will enjoy this better.

This seems like the first of a planned series. I hope subsequent books do a better job about detailing out the passing inclusions, and elaborate more at least on the ghost! I see that the next book, planned for an October 2026 release, focusses on Granny’s pen pal. So there’s hope!

Recommended to little ones aged 5-8, not for a doggy story but a girl-meets-dog story.

My thanks to Amulet Books for providing the DRC of “Penelope Positano Sees It All” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.