Wanted: The Perfect Pet

For our first review of this year (Sorry we're late, work piles up after the festive season n'all that) we're kicking off with another Fiona (after our last review being a book by a Fiona, why not continue with a different Fiona for this one :)

Fiona Roberton's book "Wanted: The Perfect Pet" neatly addresses one of those rites of passage all children go through - when they finally decide what animal would suit them best as their first pet.

The boy in this story has his heart set on a dog. They're loyal, intelligent, cute and can learn fantastic tricks.

High on a windy hill elsewhere though, a lonely duck hatches a plan to convince the boy that dogs aren't all that, and that a duck is actually far better. Even if it means disguising himself as a dog to prove it...

It's a cute, effortlessly charming book with a novel approach to storytelling (a lot of children's authors seem to be adopting the style of dropping in things like newspaper ads, or factual analysis of animals - it's good for enquiring minds and children who say "why" a lot, so it gets my thumbs up).

Charlotte's best bit: The duck saying "woof" and tracing the duck's long journey to the boy

Daddy's favourite bit: The boy's list of duck benefits

Rating: 4 out of 5