FICTION

Melissa's Octopus and Other Unsuitable Pets

by Charlotte VOAKE
illus. by Charlotte Voake. 32p. Candlewick. 2015. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9780763674816. LC 2013957483.
COPY ISBN
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.
Reviewed by Martha Link Yesowitch, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC
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.
, Jun 01, 2015

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