Posted by Jane McMorland Hunter on October 29th, 2021

Everyone wants a pet, whether it be a pony, a puppy or a pterodactyl. But pets bring responsibilities and, in some, cases dangers. I have chosen a selection of picture books which I hope will be useful, showing the full breadth of animals available whilst also giving warnings about their needs and what they might be doing when you are out.

Axel Scheffler, How to Keep a Pet Squirrel Squirrels may not seem an obvious choice of pet but the advice in this little book is taken from a 1910 children’s encyclopaedia when red squirrels were common throughout Britain. Combined with Axel Scheffler’s hilarious illustrations, this little manual is wonderfully useless (yes, that’s right, useless, we wouldn’t recommend a squirrel as a pet for most people). Additional information from 1669 and the present Save Our Squirrels completes a charming picture of red squirrels as interesting, but probably not easy, pets.

Anya Glazer, Magical Pets: A Practical Guide If you were allowed to have any pet, what would you choose? A phoenix, an invisible bat or a frog? You may not realise that training dragons can be dangerous or that giant slugs adapt to a collar and lead surprisingly well. Anya Glazer’s enchanting illustrations accompany this most useful text.

Barbara Nascimbeni, Home Alone This entertaining picture book will give you some idea of what your pets may do when left alone. Far from being lonely and sad when his owner goes to work, Frido the dog plays on his owner’s scooter, bounces on her bed, raids the fridge for lunch and then invites his friends round for music and dancing. Finally he has a massive clear-up and puts the house back in order just in time to sit innocently by the front door when his unsuspecting owner comes home.

Quentin Blake, Three Little Monkeys illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark In a flat in Paris live three very naughty little monkeys with big round eyes. Whenever Hilda Snibbs, their owner, goes out they wreak havoc: playing with umbrellas, unravelling knitting and tasting soap. But that is the sort of thing you must expect if you live with three little monkeys. This is an utterly delightful collaboration which should prove invaluable to anyone thinking of having a pet monkey (or three). There are now three Three Little Monkeys books: in Three Little Monkeys Ride Again they go on holiday: crockery ends up in the bedroom, hats in the garden and an old lady gets buried beneath the laundry. But the frogs in the soup weren’t the monkeys’ fault . . . entirely. In Three Little Monkeys at Christmas, published on 28th October, they go to stay with Hilda’s Uncle Gilbert, owner of a prized ancient golden teapot. You probably don’t need me to tell you that little monkeys and ancient teapots don’t go well together.