Rory the Dinosaur Wants a Pet (Rory the Dinosaur #2)

Rory, first seen in Rory the Dinosaur: Me and My Dad, has just met his buddy Hank's new pet crab, and now Rory wants his own pet. After some false starts--"Would you like to be my pet?" Rory asks a tortoise. "Nope," it replies--a coconut falls out of a tree. Problem solved. "Dad, he followed me home can I keep him?" Rory shouts; Dad just stares. No matter. The coconut--promptly named George--is the pet of Rory's dreams, and Climo's crisp, ever-adorable cartoons show the two teeter-tottering, playing dress-up, and sharing a bubble bath. It's a cheerfully absurd portrait of unconditional love. Ages 4-8. Agent: Kathleen Ortiz, New Leaf Literary & Media. (June)

PreS-Gr 1—In Rory the dinosaur's second adventure, he decides he wants a pet. The shells at the beach are all empty. Other creatures are too high to reach or too fast to catch, or they simply don't want to be pets at all. Just as Rory is about to give up, something brown and fuzzy (a coconut) shakes loose from a palm tree and rolls right up to him. Immediately claiming it as his longed-for pet, Rory rushes home to show his dad. He dubs his new pet George, and they play, bathe, put on pajamas, and settle in to share a book before bedtime. The digital cartoons are simple yet clear, colorful, and expressive. Young readers will see Rory's pet for what it truly is and will delight in being wiser than the little dinosaur. VERDICT A fun book to share with the very young either one-on-one or in small groups.—Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA