Prudence Wants a Pet

Starred review from May 9, 2011
Waifish Prudence, whose parents refuse to get her a pet, compensates by adopting inanimate objectsâand, in one especially ill-advised scenario, her baby brother. She first selects a tree limb ("Its name is Branch"), which her father consigns to the woodpile after it trips him eight times. She moves on to a brown men's dress shoe named from its label, Formal Footwear, which she twirls and balances to create the illusion of tricks. In her first picture book, Daly (Flirt Club) chronicles Prudence's misplaced affectionsâfor things like a twig, a tire named Mr. Round, and disappointing "sea buddies" ordered from an adâin resigned shrugs of sentences, rife with understated humor. (Of the sea buddies: "Dry animals in a package? They come to life in water? Prudence is so excited she can hardly stir.") King (Leaf) pictures Prudence's passive-aggressive charade in loose pen-and-ink sequences reminiscent of Quentin Blake's sketch art. Prudence does not complain outright, yet her doe-eyed, pathetic performance finally moves her parents to supply a kitten. This sly story suggests nonwhinyâif sometimes mischievousâways to bend the most stubborn wills. Ages 4â7.

Starred review from May 1, 2011

A classic theme feels fresh as a squiggling kitten.

Prudence pines for a pet and adopts anything handy. Will a tree branch do? A twig? A tire? Daly's matter-of-fact text is amusing but never mocking: "Prudence puts out a bowl of water for Branch. So far Branch has not been thirsty." But "Branch is an outdoor pet.... Branch tripped Dad.... / Dad broke Branch into little bits and put them on the woodpile." Other endeavors are equally short-lived. Pet Twig "ran away in the rinse cycle"; Prudence "frees" a pet shoe in the junkyard. (Narration toggles between past and present tense.) When "sea buddies" that "come in a package and are dry like Kool-Aid" fail to come alive, it's the last emotional straw: "Prudence goes to live in the closet for the rest of the day." Her crushing disappointment touches her parents, who kindly—despite qualms—take the only final step that could satisfy. With a touch of Quentin Blake flavor, King draws his animated figures in black line, washing selected bits in color. Eyes are sometimes dots, sometimes googly (sometimes one of each!). The book's shape is a horizontal rectangle; adults are too tall for their faces to show, underscoring its orientation firmly in a child's emotions.

Demure yet mildly impish; when Prudence's eyes "get hot and tingly" at the end, it's for the best reason of all. (Picture book. 3-6)

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May 1, 2011

PreS-Gr 1-Prudence doesn't beg, she doesn't plead, and she doesn't whine, but she longs for a pet. Though her parents calmly explain why that isn't possible, the child practices pet ownership anyway. She uses her vast imagination and adopts a wide variety of "pets," such as a tire, a twig, and a shoe (which she feeds, waters, and walks), until her parents finally realize that their daughter will not be dissuaded. As each new object fills Prudence with purpose and some satisfaction, albeit brief, it also brings with it some negative aspects. The tire gets heavy to carry around, and the shoe doesn't have much personality. She leaves the branch on the front porch and her dad trips over it eight times. The child remains steadfast in her desire, and her never-give-up attitude serves her well. Small pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations on a white background reveal a time progression in vignettes that are spread across the pages. The humorous consequences of Prudence's experiments make this a lighthearted read about never giving up on one's dreams.-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Preschool-G Despite the admonitions of her parents (only shown from the waist down), Prudence wants a pet. She tries out some creative alternatives, such as Branch (a tree branch), who lives on the front porch and only eats a little air. After tripping Prudence's fathereight timesBranch becomes Twig, who doesn't seem to need anything until it runs away in the washing-machine's rinse cycle. An old shoe (known as Formal Footwear), a car tire (known as Mr. Round), and other unlikely pets also come and go until Prudence's determination and impending birthday result in a real, fluffy, kissable pet. In ink-and-watercolor illustrations, Prudence and her parents are drawn with squiggly lines and their clothes filled in with colorful patterns, but it's Prudence's expressive, sometimes googly eyes that create the idiosyncratic blend of humor and charm. Although Fiona Roberton's Wanted: The Perfect Pet (2010), Emma Dodd's What Pet to Get (2008), and numerous other kid-seeking-pet titles have flooded the market, collections should still make room for this amusing variation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)