The Pets You Get

PreS-K—Big sister loves her guinea pig, but her younger brother can think of more interesting pets. He imagines the thrill of having a pup, but his sister says dogs are smelly and messy. He enthuses about having a bear, but she nixes that idea, too: a bear is too big to sleep in bed with her. How about a huge smoking dragon? That would show her! When his sister points out that dragons don't really exist, the boy suggests other amazing pets, among them a panther, polar bear, eagle, rhino, dinosaur, sea monster, and rat. Any one of those would do. Then his sister places the guinea pig on his arm, where it runs, leaps, slides down, and then zooms off, leading the two children into a "fantastic game of hide-and-seek." Suddenly, a guinea pig is not so bad, and maybe they could share the pet, although the boy still wants to have a dragon someday. While the story line is common, the children and animals shine and take center stage in the big, bold, and colorful illustrations, with backgrounds minimal or nonexistent.—Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI