PETS!

In a rhymed story of a trip to a pet show to secure a pet—“A happy-as-can-be pet/A perfect-fit-for-me pet!”—Heo’s artwork is an elegant, offbeat match for Cooper’s joyful text. Each two-page spread features one or more mostly familiar creatures (although praying mantises and pet rocks add a note of the exotic) whose salient attributes come under scrutiny: “Floppy pets/Hoppy pets/Seed-dropping-sloppy pets.” Heo’s interpretations of the creatures show sprays of color and action, while one of the pleasures of the book is in matching the text to the animals on the page. There is even a bit of a mystery here: What animal will the top-shaped boy choose to take home from the show? (Picture book. 4-9)