Valentino Finds a Home

PreS-Gr 2—Valentino, a brown-and-white guinea pig, does not want to become anyone's tasty meal in a Bolivian restaurant, so he runs away. At the airport he hides in a woman's suitcase and is not discovered until she unpacks after her flight. She is sure that she's discovered a rat despite Valentino's assurances that he is a guinea pig. Her husband takes the misunderstood traveler to a pet store and leaves him. The store owner gives him to a man looking for a pet for his daughter's birthday. Maddie, knowing a guinea pig when she sees one, loves him at first sight. "Valentino was happy. No more would he have to roam./He knew that he had found the perfect happy home." The rhymed text reads easily, and eye-catching photographs of the guinea pig are set in colorful backgrounds. Youngsters will appreciate this slight story's happy ending. Consider it as an additional purchase.—Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN