Oh, Theodore!
The young narrator badly wants a pet, but his mom says dogs are loud and snakes are too scary. So the boy reluctantly winds up with a guinea pig. Through short poems and free verse, the boy and readers get to know Theodore ("soft, plump, fuzzy brown—like a teddy bear"). At first, Theodore hides in his cage, but a cautious approach finally results in a pat on the head followed by a purr. Since guinea pigs are not the most interactive of pets, the text sometimes seems stretched; one very short poem notes that Theodore doesn't have a tail. But most of the verses make a clever point, and the action picks up when, not unexpectedly, Theodore gets lost. The Latino mother and son, along with Theodore himself, are attractively portrayed, with the guinea pig's expressive face bordering on anthropomorphic. An oversize format with plenty of white space adds appeal, and the short text can be used with beginning readers. Cooper, Ilene