When I was very young we had a dog, but all I remember about it was its last days in the basement. We begged to have pets throughout my youth. Mom always said no because they were messy. As teens who knit, my sister & I tried to convince my dad to have sheep, who could double as lawnmowers. So, I had to wait until I was an adult to become a pet-owner. Perhaps it was my deprived youth that cause me to become obsessed & involved with basset rescue.
On the other hand, we have the narrator of The Pet Project: Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses, written by Lisa Wheeler and illustrated by Zachariah Ohora.
She wants a pet and her science minded parents send her off to research the pet project.
She is systematic, logical and funny. She visits a farm, a zoo, the woods, her home, and a pet store. In each she carefully and poetically describes the ups & downs of each potential pet.
This book would be a fun intro to a Science Inquiry project or a persuasive writing assignment, to name but two ways I can see teachers using it. It would also be a fun read aloud. But be warned: the word poop appears a few times. Kids will surely love that!
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