The Pet Store

Village Board Books

by Peter Spier

Harry and Janet visit a pet store, where they look at the various animals and supplies for sale there. On heavy board pages cut in the shape of the store.

11 pages, Board book

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Peter Spier has established himself as one of the most gifted illustrators in this county. His Noah's Ark was the 1978 Caldecott Award winner, while The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night was a Caldecott Honor book in 1962. The firs two books in his widely acclaimed Mother Goose Library, London Bridge Is Falling Down! and To Market! To Market! were winner and runner-up respectively for the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. The Erie Canal and Noah's Ark both won Christopher Awards, while Gobble, Growl, Grunt received Honorable Mention in the first Children's Science Book Award program, sponsored by the New York Academy of Science.

Born and educated in Amsterdam, Mr. Spier came to New York in 1952 after serving in the Royal Dutch Navy and working for a number of years as a reporter for Elsevier's Weekly, Holland's largest magazine. He has illustrated over a hundred books and has contributed a series of murals to the H. F. Du Pont Winterthur Museum in Delaware.

Reviews

[Annelisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an oldie and goodie that I rediscovered while going through some things from my childhood. I'd forgotten about it for the longest, and I'm glad to see that it was t tossed or mangled (with the exception of a few of my "decorations" on the front page.) It's a board book, so it's nice and sturdy. The book provides a great overview of what a pet store is, the different animals one can find there, and the supplies needed to take care of each one. The information is clear but not overwhelming for the age group, with both basic facts and interesting tidbits about potential pets. This book probably contributed to my lack of love for fishkeeping. To this day I don't understand the appeal of keeping those finned, open-mouthed creatures as companions, but I digress. Anyway, it's a nice starting point for a discussion around adding a pet to one's household, and Spier's work is always enjoyable.