New Pet

Yaccarino, Dan. 2001. NEW PET. New York: Hyperion Books for Children. ISBN 078680579X

From the “Blast Off Boy and Blorp” series, NEW PET shows how one’s idea of a perfect pet might not be the same as someone else’s. Blast Off Boy and Blorp are exchange students are in need of companionship from a pet. Even while part of the story takes place in another universe, children can relate to the ideas of living in an unfamiliar place and having something you wanted turn out differently than expected. Will the pets that they are living with end up being “man’s best friend”? Yaccarino creates a delightfully humorous easy reader that kids will enjoy. Yaccarino does not create very deep characters, but with the simplistic plot, children will have no problem following the story from beginning to end. The bright cartoon illustrations with exaggerated expressions add meaning to the text and children will laugh out-loud as they study the pictures and read the story.