Children Make Terrible Pets was published by Little, Brown and Company. It was written and illustrated by Peter Brown.
Lucy, the bear, finds a little boy behind a bush. She decides this boy is cute and makes him her pet. While things go well at first, she later realizes that a human doesn’t make a good pet. By the end, Lucy realizes that humans belong among humans. Her next pet will be...
Children Make Terrible Pets makes a good point about how we really shouldn’t have certain animals as pets (of course, the role is reversed with the talking bear). Just to think that some people enjoy keeping exotic animals as pets...
I suppose another point that the author is trying to make is that children should really think twice about asking their parents for a pet since most of them don’t realize how much responsibility is involved.
The way every page is constructed is a bit different from than the usual fare. The author uses speech bubbles and a wooden border of about a centimeter. The wood certainly is a nice touch and makes the book feel “earthy”.
The illustrations have a good variety of sizes from a tiny Lucy running around a forest to a giant close up of her face screaming. I enjoyed some of the simplicity of the illustrations in this book such as the simple swirls used for the trees.
Recommended.
