Sparky!
We have pets, so we enjoyed this story. On the surface, for the first half, it’s a story of a little girl wanting a pet, asking for a pet, and finding a creative solution to her mom’s parameters on having a pet. The second half is mostly dealing with having a pet.
However, there’s two other themes running through the story. One is of jealousy or rivalry between two little girls. We didn’t enjoy that aspect of the story, it seemed unnecessary. It’s also something that would keep a book from being a favorite read over and over. The other theme is repeated a few times in the story, that a promise is a promise. That we did like. It was a great opportunity to talk to my little one about promises, what they are, what they mean.
Overall, the book is a fun story, especially if you and your little one enjoy pets. My little one loves all animals and wants them all to live with us as pets, so the idea of a sloth was intriguing. The illustrations are simple and mostly realistic.
Cautions: The one aspect of this book we didn’t like was the rivalry between the two little girls. It wasn’t critical to the story and the way the other little girl is drawn made my little one ask a few questions.
