Melissa's octopus and other unsuitable pets

Charlotte Voake

Book - 2015

Melissa, Thomas, Betty, and Arthur all have pets that are very unsuitable for a wide range of very good reasons.

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Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room jE/Voake Checked In
Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
Somerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press 2015.
Language
English
Main Author
Charlotte Voake (author)
Edition
First U.S. edition
Physical Description
1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 23 x 28 cm
ISBN
9780763674816
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Some animals are meant to be pets, and some simply are not. This introduces eight children and their exotic, robustly colorful pets in loose, playful lines, each posing a unique challenge to its owner. Page by page, the brightly colored animals pop against a simple, cool lavender background. The children stand by watching, searching, or gaping as Voake explains how each animal isn't a good pet. A giraffe is a bit too tall. An elephant is too heavy for Peter's upstairs floor. And a crocodile proves to be the worst pet, especially when the children disappear (don't worry; they were just in another room). The facial expressions of the kids and animals are exquisitely entertaining, whether it is the ochre octopus, joyfully bathing in Melissa's bathtub, or a giant, vermilion warthog guiltily munching on the table flowers. With some pets, there's an interactive element can you see Betty's chameleon hiding on the flower-print couch? Readers won't mind not knowing where the children got such odd pets, since this is just plain fun.--Grant, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-Children frequently ask for pets that most parents would deem unacceptable, but what might happen if these improper pets really found homes? Such is premise of Voake's tongue-in-cheek offering. Melissa's octopus is a "splendid creature," but a very messy bather. And Arthur's warthog is a "beautiful animal," though his table manners leave much to be desired. The dynamic watercolor and ink illustrations complement the text nicely, with the animals acting out and the children adoring them just the same. The twist ending will leave children giggling and prove that a crocodile may be the most unsuitable pet of all. VERDICT This humorous title will work well for sharing with early elementary students as well as preschoolers.-Martha Link Yesowitch, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

An omniscient narrator introduces various children with variously "unsuitable" pets, the mildest being Simon's worm ("not a bad pet, but Simon never knows which end to talk to"). Readers will delight in the narrator's insouciance alongside comical illustrations of increasingly out-of-hand pets. The book is brazenly old-fashioned, recalling a time when children's literature routinely featured characters threatened with being eaten. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.