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Welcome to the Puppy Place--where every puppy finds a home!

When Cocoa, a large chocolate Lab puppy, accidentally knocks over her elderly owner, Charles convinces his parents to foster this excitable dog. But can the Peterson household survive Cocoa's high energy behavior? Charles is confident that this intelligent pup will learn to calm down so they can find her a perfect forever home.

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

76 people are currently reading
591 people want to read

About the author

Ellen Miles

175 books219 followers

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5 stars
275 (58%)
4 stars
104 (22%)
3 stars
63 (13%)
2 stars
16 (3%)
1 star
10 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
Profile Image for Gideon.
187 reviews3 followers
January 29, 2013
this is the first puppy place book where the dog is fostered near x-mas time that I HAVE EVER SEEN.
Profile Image for Debbie.
198 reviews2 followers
April 16, 2016
We always enjoy her stories!! Wish they were numbered, though, because we like to read them in order, even though it doesn't matter in the series.
Profile Image for Emily.
92 reviews14 followers
January 12, 2023
This was a cute kid book prefect for 3rd-4th grade readers. There is some higher level vocabulary, but it has great context clues and there is some use of foreshadowing to work on inferencing skills! My third grader enjoyed it and is recommending it to classmates!
10 reviews
Read
June 11, 2016
awww! it was adorable! i wanted to just hug cocoa while i was reading!
Profile Image for Teena in Toronto.
2,466 reviews79 followers
March 7, 2023
Charles and his older sister, Lizzie, are in elementary school. The Peterson family have a puppy named Buddy plus they foster dogs and help them find homes.

Cocoa is a chocolate Lab puppy who is owned by an elderly couple. Cocoa has more energy than they can handle. One day she accidentally knocks the husband down and he needs to go to rehab. The wife can't handle Cocoa on her own so the Petersons offer to take care of Cocoa while the husband recovers. But Charles realizes until Cocoa gets older and settles down, she'll always be too much for the couple.

Though this book is a quick read and directed at elementary-aged children, I found it entertaining. There is a learning experience and a puppy tip at the end. It is written in third person perspective and first person from Cocoa's point of view. It is the twenty-fifth in the Puppy Place series, which currently has 64 books in the series, and works as a stand alone.

Blog review post:
Profile Image for Marlee.
2,017 reviews
June 13, 2018
We have not done this series in order and RBI’s is the game the first book we’ve found that is more focused on Charles than Lizzie. I really liked the different characters in this book. I also liked how much of a handful the puppy cocoa was through most of the book. My daughter often gets the impression from these books that dogs are easy to train and little work to own. This made her really think about how difficult a puppy can be.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ellee Nichols.
401 reviews3 followers
February 15, 2025
Copyright date: 2011
Star rating: 4
Award: N/A
Genre: chapter book
Summary w/ themes: This book is about a dog named Cocoa who is too rambunctious for her owners so the main character and his family decide to foster her until they can find the right fit for her.
Use for future classroom: Good series to have
Thoughts of book: I thought this was a sweet and simple book
Profile Image for Cecilia.
73 reviews
August 14, 2018
This book was pretty interesting. However, I think Ellen Miles over-exaggerated the enthusiasm of Labradors.The one thing that disappointed me was that Charles had a very poor vocabulary. He didn't know what "boughs of holly","rehab", or "frail" meant. He's supposed to be, like, eight and he doesn't know what any of that stuff means. Very,very sad.
All in all, I'd rate Cocoa (The Puppy Place, #25) by Ellen Miles 3 stars!
9 reviews
November 15, 2020
I like this book very much because I love hearing about crazy dogs and how they train them to be better dogs.
Profile Image for Emily Dudek.
35 reviews
January 5, 2023
I knew it was Dawna!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Gabi.
3 reviews
March 24, 2023
It was cute and sad that coco family didn’t care about her and Lizzie and Charles found her roaming around with no family and they saved her.
Profile Image for Sue Ann.
406 reviews
August 24, 2025
Such a cute story
love it
love the way they find the pups a forever home
highly recommend
128 reviews1 follower
Read
February 13, 2017
AR
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
3 reviews1 follower
May 23, 2016
The book series The Puppy Place was one of my favorites. Cocoa is about a boy, and this boy's name is Charles, and his sister's name is Lizzie. Their little brother's name is Adam. He is referred to the bean. They have a dog named Buddy. The story it starts out with Charles and his dad going to the Five-Star restaurant they went to go get food for the rest of their family. As, they walked out of the restaurant they heard a fire. Then that is when they saw a dog her skin looked like cocoa. They took her home, and decided what to do with her. They were dog rescuers. In the end they decided that they needed to give her to another family. They named her Cocoa by the way. After all, they found the perfect family for Cocoa. I haven't read the full book, but that is how far I've gotten so far.
Profile Image for Megan.
89 reviews
November 20, 2012
Perfect for second or third grade readers who like puppies and Christmas. So like pretty much every second and third grader...
Profile Image for Ali.
718 reviews
January 20, 2014
I think that Cocoa is really crazy in the book. You know when I read this book I feel like going crazy! I really like reading these puppy place books. The puppy place books are the best!
Profile Image for Sweetsweet.
55 reviews
July 25, 2016
It um it sounded soft and warm. It was cute. It was amazing.
Profile Image for Jeanette.
92 reviews17 followers
April 24, 2013
Good as always and my daughter loves all the Puppy Place books.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews

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