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Animal Ark Pets (UK Order) #8
Guinea Pig Gang
The idea of creating a club of guinea pig owners and their pets seemed like a good idea to Mandy and her friends, yet they become concerned when Lisa sees it differently and refuses to join. Original.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Ben M. Baglio
217 books151 followersBen M. Baglio created the brief for two series of children's books - Dolphin Diaries and Animal Ark. Dolphin Diaries features a girl and her family from Florida, who travel around the world as marine biologists and study dolphins. Animal Ark features two children who work together to help animals and solve animal-related mysteries. The books were written by commissioned writers in the UK under Baglio's instruction using the pseudonym Lucy Daniels. Each ghostwriter is named with a 'Special Thanks' on the copyright page.
Using his real name he also wrote the book series The Pet Finders Club, featuring a group of three children who search for peoples lost pets.
Using his real name he also wrote the book series The Pet Finders Club, featuring a group of three children who search for peoples lost pets.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 23, 2014
this is a real book and I have read it
September 12, 2024
This is a review of the UK Hodder "Lucy Daniels" edition. In America, this would be published by Scholastic under the fake author name of Ben Baglio. The real author name was Helen Magee, who wrote many books in the Animal Ark Universe.
Paul Howard, as always in the Animal Ark Pets series, does the illustrations. He does guinea pigs really well, although sometimes he gives them an all-too-human smile. He almost always does his dogs and cats and often chickens with smiles. Yes, I know it's a kids' series, but the cuteseyness does get a bit irritating.
In the UK, guinea-pigs are usually spelled with the hyphen. Why this is, I've no idea. Tradition, I suppose. Piggies are also known as cavies, derived from their Linnean classification, Cavia porcellus. The term cavy is also used here to denote a pedigree guinea-pig destined for the Show ring.
If you've read any books by avid UK cavy showers or had the misfortune to meet any, you will discover quickly that there is snobbery involved. This is also true in just about any animal that's shown to prop up their owner's massive egos. There is such a snob in this book, although the snobs usually don't behave such an obvious way.
Despite my love for guinea-pigs, this is not a particularly memorable book. It is one of the more predictable books. It does have some nice tips about cavy care, but they are a bit scattershot. It does mention one guinea-pig having an abscess. I shuddered at that. I had a guinea pig die of slow starvation because a mouth abscess kept returning, despite surgery. Fortunately, the fictional piggie here survives.
They also mention mites, which are hardly mentioned in many non-fiction guinea-pig care books. They can get mites no matter how well they've been looked after. A guinea pig can look perfectly healthy and still carry a few mites. How to care for mites was well done here.
I'm not keen on bringing piggies from different homes together to play. You do not know what illnesses these other piggies have. Unlike the piggies in this book, real piggies impose a pecking order that's strictly enforced and often challenged. Piggies often fight or even flat out ignore each other when introduced. They rarely, if ever, just instantly get along. That part of the book was just too silly, and gives unrealistic expectations.
Like most Animal Ark Pets books, just about all of the characters in the previous books make cameo appearances. Even Jill and her tortoise Toto show up. You don't absolutely have to read the previous books in the series to understand what's going on, but it's a good idea.
Paul Howard, as always in the Animal Ark Pets series, does the illustrations. He does guinea pigs really well, although sometimes he gives them an all-too-human smile. He almost always does his dogs and cats and often chickens with smiles. Yes, I know it's a kids' series, but the cuteseyness does get a bit irritating.
In the UK, guinea-pigs are usually spelled with the hyphen. Why this is, I've no idea. Tradition, I suppose. Piggies are also known as cavies, derived from their Linnean classification, Cavia porcellus. The term cavy is also used here to denote a pedigree guinea-pig destined for the Show ring.
If you've read any books by avid UK cavy showers or had the misfortune to meet any, you will discover quickly that there is snobbery involved. This is also true in just about any animal that's shown to prop up their owner's massive egos. There is such a snob in this book, although the snobs usually don't behave such an obvious way.
Despite my love for guinea-pigs, this is not a particularly memorable book. It is one of the more predictable books. It does have some nice tips about cavy care, but they are a bit scattershot. It does mention one guinea-pig having an abscess. I shuddered at that. I had a guinea pig die of slow starvation because a mouth abscess kept returning, despite surgery. Fortunately, the fictional piggie here survives.
They also mention mites, which are hardly mentioned in many non-fiction guinea-pig care books. They can get mites no matter how well they've been looked after. A guinea pig can look perfectly healthy and still carry a few mites. How to care for mites was well done here.
I'm not keen on bringing piggies from different homes together to play. You do not know what illnesses these other piggies have. Unlike the piggies in this book, real piggies impose a pecking order that's strictly enforced and often challenged. Piggies often fight or even flat out ignore each other when introduced. They rarely, if ever, just instantly get along. That part of the book was just too silly, and gives unrealistic expectations.
Like most Animal Ark Pets books, just about all of the characters in the previous books make cameo appearances. Even Jill and her tortoise Toto show up. You don't absolutely have to read the previous books in the series to understand what's going on, but it's a good idea.
December 20, 2018
This is a very good chapter book that shows the difference between having a cute "thing" and actually caring for a pet.
The Animal Ark Pets series is a lot of fun. The main characters are caring and kind. they think of the best way to help the people and pets that they encounter. These are the same characters we meet in the Animal Ark series.
This installment focuses on the guinea pig or cavy. Cavies are great little pets, but they are work and they love company. Jennifer gets one for her birthday as a status symbol. Her sister, Lisa, loves the little cavy, but isn't allowed to be around it. Lisa sees Carla (the cavy) is unhappy and needs help and reaches out to Mandy and Mandy's parents.
A good, easy read for an adult. A good, chapter book read for a younger reader. A fun read for any animal lover!
The Animal Ark Pets series is a lot of fun. The main characters are caring and kind. they think of the best way to help the people and pets that they encounter. These are the same characters we meet in the Animal Ark series.
This installment focuses on the guinea pig or cavy. Cavies are great little pets, but they are work and they love company. Jennifer gets one for her birthday as a status symbol. Her sister, Lisa, loves the little cavy, but isn't allowed to be around it. Lisa sees Carla (the cavy) is unhappy and needs help and reaches out to Mandy and Mandy's parents.
A good, easy read for an adult. A good, chapter book read for a younger reader. A fun read for any animal lover!
October 27, 2019
Extremely cute with very accurate information on guinea pigs!
Read
March 1, 2025Loved it when I was a kid, but in hindsight, all those people owning single, caged, guinea pigs and bringing them together for regular, germ-trading meetups makes me shudder a bit.
March 8, 2026
Had to read this book as love guinea pigs
June 5, 2013
Den är jättegullig och mysig!
Want to Read
December 28, 2015Loved this series when I was younger. Still a huge animal lover and would like to read the rest of this series!
September 19, 2013
Aaaawwwweeeeeesssssoooooommmmmeeeee,!!,!,!m!,
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews