SEPTEMBER 2015 - AudioFile
Rainn Wilson’s lively narration conveys excitement and suspense as two children discuss which pet to buy. Wilson’s range of tones, drawn-out sounds, and energetic bursts of words set the stage for a brother and sister’s short but exuberant discussion of the animals in a pet store. While their voices are not always well differentiated, Wilson brings out the rhyming pattern in a naturally flowing way that lends to a sense of wonder about the animals and the children’s choice of pet. The producer notes, read by Julia Whelan, are equally well delivered. With a perfect blend of reverence and sparkle, she recounts how this book came to be posthumously published 24 years after Seuss’s death, along with important issues pertaining to pets. M.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo
…a very good example of [Seuss's] particular genius for distilling both the spirit of his times and the timeless mind-set of children. With its galloping anapests, cockamamie creatures and kids off on an everyday adventure that turns hallucinogenic, this late arrival will slip easily into the collection that changed how Americans learn to read—Dr. Seuss books like Green Eggs and Ham, which mowed down the teacher-approved, intellectually inert Dick-and-Jane drivel that sucked the life out of early education in the 1950s…What Pet Should I Get? will remind us, delightfully, that Dr. Seuss, over half a century ago, made learning to read an adventure, a club children would actually want to belong to. And, not least, he made reading aloud something parents, too, could reliably enjoy.
The New York Times - Michiko Kakutani
Filled with creatures both real and zany,
It shows off his gift for creating a zoo.
Two-legged, four-legged, winged and finned,
Beasties familiar and entirely new!
Publishers Weekly
07/27/2015
This early Dr. Seuss work, which was found after his death in 1991 and re-discovered in 2013, stars the brother and sister from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. An extensive, informative afterword from the publisher says that Seuss often recycled story elements, and this book may have led to One Fish. Here, the narrator and his sister, Kay, have a real-world problem. They're at a pet store, and their father says they can take home only one animal: "The cat?/ Or the dog?/ The kitten?/ The pup?/ Oh, boy!/ It is something/ to make a mind up." Their imaginations soon wander in typical Seussian directions: "If we had a big tent,/ then we would be able/ to take home a yent!" (A spread shows the siblings gazing fondly out of the window at a giant, tiger-striped creature crouched under a canopy of cloth and cables.) Seuss's drawings offer plenty of offbeat surrealism (four exasperated beasts bear banners that read Make Up Your Mind), but the book also takes a sympathetic view of childhood indecision—with an appropriately indecisive ending. Ages 3–7. (July)
School Library Journal
09/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—More than 20 years after Theodor Geisel's death, a newly unearthed Dr. Seuss book hits the shelves. Discovered in 2013 by Geisel's widow and his assistant, the completed manuscript and accompanying sketches were found in a box containing some of the legendary picture book creator's doodles and notes. Written sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the tale very much reflects the culture of its time: two white siblings go to a pet store and struggle to answer the titular question. The children encounter a menagerie of real and fantastically Seussical animals. The pair bound exuberantly through each spread as they debate the merits of each creature. The rhyme scheme bounces along merrily for the most part, with the exception of a verse concerning a "yent" in a "tent," where the pattern shifts awkwardly, though it picks up steam again with the next page turn. While there is no visual adult presence in this book, readers learn that "Dad said we could have one./Dad said he would pay" and that Mother would not like a "thing on a string" that "would bump, bump into the wall!" A repeated spread depicts four potential pets holding up a banner that reads, "MAKE UP YOUR MIND." There's an ambiguous ending, and readers are left to wonder what pet the siblings finally bring home. Though the discovered manuscript included only black-and-white sketches, this finished work features the deep aqua, sunshine yellow, and vibrant red that were hallmarks of Seuss illustrations of the time period. Random House's Cathy Goldsmith, who was the designer and art director for many of Geisel's titles, worked to capture just the right palette; the good doctor would have been pleased. A note from the publisher reveals a bit of the anxiety associated with publishing a text written more than 50 years ago, "when it was common for people to simply buy dogs, cats, and other animals at pet stores. Today animal advocates encourage us to adopt…." Additional back matter includes anecdotes about a young Ted Geisel and his love of dogs, candid photos, and the story behind the discovery of this volume. VERDICT More nostalgia-inducing than groundbreaking, this picture book offers Seuss fans many familiar touchstones: jaunty rhymes, nonsense words, and the signature artwork beloved by generations of new and emerging readers.—Kiera Parrott, School Library Journal
SEPTEMBER 2015 - AudioFile
Rainn Wilson’s lively narration conveys excitement and suspense as two children discuss which pet to buy. Wilson’s range of tones, drawn-out sounds, and energetic bursts of words set the stage for a brother and sister’s short but exuberant discussion of the animals in a pet store. While their voices are not always well differentiated, Wilson brings out the rhyming pattern in a naturally flowing way that lends to a sense of wonder about the animals and the children’s choice of pet. The producer notes, read by Julia Whelan, are equally well delivered. With a perfect blend of reverence and sparkle, she recounts how this book came to be posthumously published 24 years after Seuss’s death, along with important issues pertaining to pets. M.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2015-07-22
Almost 25 years after the death of the great Dr. Seuss, a new book hits the market. "We want a pet. / We want a pet. / What kind of pet / should we get?" So begins the narrator and his sister's visit to a pet store, where they find themselves torn among a bevy of cute, furry creatures including cats, dogs, rabbits, and fish, as well as some "new things." As presented in the lengthy publisher's note that follows the story, this newly unearthed picture book likely dates to the late 1950s or early '60s and has been reconstructed from finished art and multiple iterations of draft revisions. The result is a far more satisfying experience than such other posthumous Seuss publications as Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories (2014) and The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (2011), which paired more or less finished stories with a few pieces of art. This new-old book presents a complete storyline with a pleasing balance of text and art featuring, on average, one quatrain per page. Unfortunately, it still has a fairly unfinished feel. It's hard to imagine that the notoriously finicky—admirably so—author would have been entirely happy with the occasionally lackluster and stumbling verse. Moreover, while the illustrations demonstrate an intensifying looniness, progressing from cats and dogs to Seuss' trademark, unidentifiable rubber-limbed, mop-topped creatures, the text does not keep pace. The "yent" or the "fast kind of thing / who would fly round my head / in a ring on a string" the brother considers feel like first steps toward zaniness rather than a finished artistic vision. The concluding note likewise suffers from a lack of unity, offering an earnest exhortation to eschew pet shops for shelter adoption, a survey of the dogs in Theodor Geisel's life, and the process art director Cathy Goldsmith followed in turning the newfound manuscript into a book. Of more lasting interest to scholars than children, this genial pet-shop visit provides a tantalizing glimpse into a master's artistic process. (Picture book. 3 & up)
