Joan in the Cone

by Billy Sharff, Hala Tahboub (illustrator)

For fans of Grumpy Monkey and The Pout-Pout Fish comes the heroic tale of one dog's journey to cope with life's inconveniences and all its . . . accessories

Joan’s life is wonderful, wild, and grand—
running and playing as much as she can!
Days full of fun, where she’s never alone.
And then . . .
    came . . .
      the cone.

For Joan the dog, life is different now. With her cone, she gets trapped in the doggy door. And she doesn't command the same respect she once did at the dog park. Through funny challenges and mortifications, Joan reflects on her pre-cone glory days, including what led to her injury (let's just say, certain choices were made). But with time, Joan begins to see there is love and life and joy beyond the rim of the cone—and sometimes popcorn inside it too, because, it turns out, the cone makes a great snack bowl.

This picture book is guaranteed to make kids and caregivers laugh, and see the trials of life—and dogs in cones—in a whole new way.

Genres: Picture Books, Dogs, Childrens, Animals, Storytime, Pets

41 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2025

Reviews

[Isabella]

picked it up to find out why joan was in the cone and ended up buying it to be able to read to my future kids. absolutely adorable and beautiful story that resonated so much more than i expected. i love it so so much i genuinely couldn’t leave the store without it. i can see myself rereading tbh one of the best kids books i’ve read ever

[Alyssa Mandell]

I swear the dog in the book is my dog! Shows the puppy blues so well where a puppy is crazy until they mature enough to listen to you. Best as a one-on-one story due to the small illustrations.

[Christine55416]

So sweet, great lessons for talking points on empathy, illness, righting wrongs.

[Terresa Wellborn]

A cute picture book that alternates between good days with pup Joan, and not so good days. Midway through the book, it felt like the author was trying to do too much: lots of general good vs bad days, then the shenanigans with Joan going after the cake and consequences: hurt leg & cone of shame.

Would be a good book for discussing good and bad days, ups and downs and how to find joy despite hard times, however the rhyming text doesn't add much and the story just goes on and on. Love the cover art, just wish it'd been assembled and edited differently.

Themes: dogs, stories that rhyme
Ages: preK-1st grade (shorten for littles)
Pub year: 2025

[Lisa Wiertel]

Joan is a dog who unfortunately must wear the “cone of shame.” The story begins showing a mischievous Joan who while loving life tends to cause some havoc in the process. Joan’s boldness tinged with curiosity lands her at the vet and in the new dreaded cone. Joan finds life in the cone not so fun and goes on a repentant mission to rectify some of her past misdeeds. The rhyming in this book flows very nicely and the illustrations are cute of Joan in action. Children with a playful, naughty pet will enjoy this book as well as the adults that read it to them!

[Kelly Stazyk]

Joan, a sweet pup with long drag-on-the-floor ears, encounters the daily ups and downs of dog life and feels all the feels that go along with it. When Joan is saddled with an Elizabethan collar and finds the usual activities unappealing, Joan literally stumbles upon something new to do and runs with it! Soon, Joan has learned a wonderful lesson and feels much better. Dog-lovers will thoroughly enjoy this book!

[Trisha]

Life goes through ups and lows. When you are on the mend you have time to think. Some of the thoughts by Joan the Cone were “My life is ruined” and “I destroyed everything “. It felt exactly like a teenager would react. I wish there was an adult in the story to work out those thoughts with the pup (a young reader is going to see them as the pup).

[Rachel]

A dog has to get a cone after getting hurt. It feels sad and remembers the days when he could do things without the cone. But soon finds that it can still be happy and do new things with the cone. I think this is meant to help kids who may have had a injury themselves and now can't do all the things they used to.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin]

In this rhyming tale, a dog experiences the vicissitudes of life until an accident requires her to wear a “cone of shame” to prevent her from licking her wounds or chewing her bandages. The back and forth between good and bad days is a bit confusing, however. Must the dog do penance for injuries—and by implication, children too? The illustrations are doggone cute, though.

[Sheri]

If you have ever had a dog and he needs to have stitches or a wound sewed up, the doctor might put your dog's head in a cone till the wound heals. I love this story about Joan the dog and why the cone prevents his playing with other dogs and doing dog things. See how things get better for Joan.

[Erin]

This book is trying to do too much. The rhyming feels stilted and isn't all that interesting. Not sure what the message is...If you get hurt, the best way to feel better is to right past wrongs? I just didn't connect the dots. The art is super cute, though.

[Jenn Kause]

I think the art style is really cute and would make a for a great storytime for color and emotions;

that being said the text sometimes rhyme and doesn't flow all the way, and the ending feels a bit strange as if poor Joan is going to be forever in a cone!

[April]

I needed a fun read. This book made me laugh a few times. It would be great to know what a dog really thinks about, especially when wearing the "cone of shame."

[Rebekah]

A good story about finding the good in life then bad things happen.

[Jennifer]

Very cute.

[Amy]

Darling. Loved the page where Joan finds all the junk she's hidden from her family to return to them. Bought for my sister Joan who is eager for grandkids.

[Spudpuppy]

this is so silly and cute