The Pets You Get! by Adrian Reynolds and Thomas Taylor

The Pets You Get! by Adrian Reynolds and Thomas Taylor
Buy The Pets You Get! by Adrian Reynolds and Thomas Taylor at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
Summary: A fun tale, with interesting rhymes, comparing a guinea pig with much more exotic pets. With a smile like that, who wouldn't want the guinea pig?
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: September 2012
Publisher: Andersen
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1842706428
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A young boy doesn't like the boring guinea pig his sister has. He'd much rather have a dog... no, a grizzly bear... no, a DRAGON! He runs through a number of options for whizz-bang pets that are much more exciting. However, his sister keeps selling the option of the guinea pig. Maybe, just maybe, he'll come to appreciate the little scurrying creature.

There's much to enjoy in The Pets You Get! It's full of gentle lessons, such as appreciating what you have. There's a very strong sense of rhythm throughout, but interestingly the rhythm changes between sections, which is a neat difference from most picture books. It doesn't always scan perfectly, but there's enough charm to brush over this. Slightly more grating are some of the forced rhymes:

I would fly on his back,
And my sister attack...

It always feels so unnecessary to have a line like that. Many other lines work brilliantly, such as the boy and his imagined grizzly bear eating chips in a mountainous lair. The imagery is quirky and creative - and the illustration is particularly cute. Where the rhymes click, it's like the very best nursery rhymes. It's just that they don't always click.

The illustrations are good, solid picture book fare - big heads, dots for eyes, cute smiles. There are hints of Mick Inkpen, which is positive praise indeed. I particularly loved the guinea pig - he's full of life and character. Everyone would love to have a pet with a smile like that, even if a dragon was on the agenda. (And as the father of a daughter with an imaginary dragon for a pet, I can attest that they're nothing but trouble).

The Pets You Get! is a good, solid read, perhaps best suited to borrowing from the library. It's got a lot going for it, and you will get a few enjoyable storytimes out of it, but you might not pull it back off the shelf month after month. For anyone particularly into cute guinea pigs, it's well worth a look.

Older readers who love guinea pigs will enjoy The Tales of Olga Da Polga by Michael Bond. Christopher Nibble by Charlotte Middleton features a particularly cute guinea pig who takes up gardening.

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