Don't Take Your Snake for a Stroll

by Karin Ireland, David Catrow (Illustrator)

Overview

What would happen if your moose wanted to go to the movies? What if your rhino begged to go dancing? What if your pig pleaded to shop? Say "No!" Because, as the unsuspecting pet owner in this book learns, taking peculiar pets to people places can lead to pandemonium!
Karin Ireland's hilarious verse and David Catrow's wacky visuals just might convince you that sometimes it's best to leave your creatures at home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547538853
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/01/2003
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	29 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

KARIN IRELAND is the author of more than a dozen books for adults. Don't Take Your Snake for a Stroll is her second picture book. She lives in Austin, Texas.

DAVID CATROW is an award-winning illustrator of books for children as well as a political cartoonist. He lives in Springfield, Ohio.

Editorial Reviews

"If you want to have fun without worry,/ Listen to what you should do:/ Leave all of the animals tucked in at home/ And take only people with you." Ireland (Wonderful Nature, Wonderful You) proves this concluding advice applies to every possible pet and situation, whether it involves a duck at a wedding reception (the waterfowl may use the punch fountain as a splash pool) or an elephant at the beach (the pachyderm will require countless bottles of sunscreen, and "You'll barely cover his legs"). The rhyme and meter can be hit and miss, but many of the scenarios will keep readers in stitches. Catrow's (Plantzilla) editorial-style watercolors, with their distorted perspectives and goofy details (one of the mall stores pictured bears the sign "Tons of Putty"), plunge readers into a funhouse-mirror world. A redheaded boy resembling an upside-down bowling pin owns the pets in question; his presence unites the spreads and his expressions offer witty punctuation to every improbable scenario. When confronted by a movie usher about his moose companion, for instance, he flashes a theatrically innocent smile; when a huge pet pig wallows in the mud of a planter at the mall, he shoots the animal a look of disdain worthy of any frustrated parent. Readers will likely relish this extended retort to the perennial question, "Why can't the pet come?" Ages 3-7. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 2-In this cautionary tale, a boy is advised not to take his unusual pets anywhere-"Don't take your skunk on an airplane," "Don't take your moose to the movies," etc. His pig will make a slobbery mess, and the snake will terrorize the neighborhood. The watercolor with black-line art is hilarious as each animal (rabbit, chimpanzee, frog, duck, and more) creates its own peculiar ruckus, and the boy's wide-eyed surprise suspends him in concentrated animation as the action swirls around him. Judith Barrett's Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People (Aladdin, 1988) makes for simpler amusement whereas Ireland broadens the fun with four-line rhymes per page. At the end, the child holds his palm out to stop the pets as he walks with his oblivious parents and younger sister. His wise expression suggests that he will never go out with members of that motley group again. A verbal and visual treat.-Nancy Call, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Aptos, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

In the tradition of Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing (1989) and Hints from Heloise (1984), here is a collection of things readers might not want to do and places they might not want to go with several types of outrageous, exotic pets. "Don’t take your duck to a wedding reception / Where punch is served in a fountain. / He’ll take one look and jump in for a swim. / No, it’s better you go there without him." The tyke in each of the double-paged, full-bleed illustrations has quite a menagerie. In the end, he wisely leaves his animals safely tucked in at home and takes only his family with him when he goes out. Adult author Ireland’s second outing for youngsters is sure to entertain the young with its silliness and the old with its witty rhymes. Catrow has been let loose here, his bright, typically bizarre watercolors an excellent match even if the male duck mentioned in the verse above seems somehow to have laid eggs in the punch. It’s a zoo full of fun for anyone. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews