Thursday, August 24, 2017

THE TEACHER'S PET by Anica Mrose Rissi / Book Review



By: Anica Mrose Rissi
Illustrated by: Zachariah Ohora
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Released on: June 20th, 2017
Ages: 4 & up
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads
Rating: 4 Owlets - We enjoyed it
An unbound book was provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review

When a class pet proves to be more than a handful, the students agree they cannot keep him, but how will they convince their teacher, Mr. Stricter, who loves the strange creature?

On the day the tadpoles hatch, the whole class is amazed—they've never seen their teacher so excited. Mr. Stricter has always wanted a pet, so he tells the students they can keep just one. The class chooses Bruno, the smallest of the bunch. But Bruno doesn't stay small for long. Soon he's grown into a giant, classroom-wrecking creature: He eats desks, farts for show-and-tell, and sneezes slime all over everything! Everyone can see that Bruno is trouble. Everyone except Mr. Stricter.

With their teacher blinded by love for the pet, the students must step up and take matters into their own heroic hands.


A fun story, matched with great illustrations makes for a great laugh out picture book. What starts off as a fun science project with tadpoles, quickly goes hilariously wrong, when Mr. Stricter's new class pet isn't what he thought it was. The trouble all starts when Mr. Stricter decides to keep one of the tadpoles as a class pet. That would have been fine, but their pet, Bruno, doesn't stop growing. Only Mr. Stricter has failed to acknowledge that Bruno is definitely not a frog. In fact, Bruno gets so big he starts to outgrow the classroom. 

Things only get worse when Mr. Stricter fails to acknowledge his beloved class pet is better suited outside the classroom. There's more than Bruno's size that causes problems. There's a few hilarious mishaps that happen as well. It's a good thing Mr. Stricter's class is full of smart kids, or else Mr. Stricter wouldn't have been able to get himself out of the sticky situation he finds himself in, literally. Thankfully the class all works together to solve the problem, and find a solution for Bruno.

The Teacher's Pet is such a fun read out aloud. With hilarious, well paced storytelling, and Ohoa's illustrations, and color scheme that are reminiscent of classic easy readers from back in the day, make for a great read. We enjoyed this picture book, and all the laughter that ensued from it. The Teacher's Pet definitely makes for a fun story time read both at home and in the classroom, and invites young readers to predict what's going to happen next. 

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~