Bad Pets Save Christmas! True Holiday Tales

by Allan Zullo

These true stories of naughty pets saving the holidays will make readers laugh and warm their hearts at the same time.

Genres: Christmas, Animals, Nonfiction, Childrens

139 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Allan Zullo is an American non-fiction writer. He is the author or co-author of more than eighty paperbacks for adults and children.

A native of Rockford, Illinois, Zullo graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1969 with a degree in journalism. His books include The Baseball Hall of Shame and Baseball Confidential (both co-written with Bruce Nash), A Boomer's Guide to Grandparenting (co-written with his wife Kathryn), and the Haunted Kids series. Zullo has also written articles for The National Enquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, Ladies Home Journal, and The Palm Beach Post. His syndicated comic strip "The Ghost Story Club" ran in American newspapers from 1995 to 1998.

Zullo currently lives in Fairview, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Christmas tails!

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspired by true tales, this collection of Christmas stories feature naughty animals that somehow manage to do the right thing. Whether it's a dog or a pig, the stories are entertaining for kids.

[David S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! There are 7 stories about Bad pets that save Christmas. My 3 favorite are: Mojo's Yuletide Magic, Catman's Christmas Surprise, and The Holiday Hero. In Mojo's Yuletide Magic, Mojo is a dog hates the color red, He finds a stray dog, and They find her owner. In Catman's Chrismas Surprise, Catman is a cat who his owner's way of saying "no chance" is "when a cat can fly", but Catman turns the tables when he flies for an instant! To be honest, I think he should say,"when a cow can fly" instead of "when a cat can fly". The Holiday Hero is about a naughty pig named Hamlet, who isn't that bad in the beginning, then becomes a Pain in the Neck, then he saved his owner's lives! How? The gas furnace was acting up, Hamlet's owner's mother thought she was coming down with the flu. everyone thought they were sick, Hamlet was freaking out, then Hamlet's owner's dad said, "GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, AND TAKE HAMLET WITH YOU!" turns out they had Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, and Hamlet saved there lives!

I say that this was an amazing book! I give it 5 stars. I recommend this book to readers with a pet or not. by the way, the starting date is estimated.

[Mary T · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first of Allan Zullo's books, and I liked it! I liked that each chapter was a different story, and I liked that they were based on true stories. I read one of them aloud to my fourth grade class. I'll probably be ordering more of the Bad Pets books for our classroom library.

[Jada H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has many different stories to it about how the people think their pets are bad and getting into trouble but really the pets end up saving Christmas or making it happier. I didn't really like this book at first when I stared reading it because I didn't like how it changed to different stories each chapter but the stories were so interesting and just pulled me right in and I couldn't get out, then I didn't really mind that it changed stories like that anymore. I think this book is an adventurous and joy filled book, in some of the stories the pet takes the family on an adventure to find a missed relative and at the end of all the stories brings happiness and joy because everybody in the story is happy and thankful. I recommend this book if you are somebody that is into books that make you feel warm and happy inside.

[Emily Orozco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bad Pets Save Christmas! by Allan Zullo is a beautiful Christmas book with many Christmas stories. There were eight wonderful stories, each teaching a valuable lesson to the owner or owner's family. The first story was about a dog reuniting a family, by Christmas miracle. The next story was about a little girl having a risky road taking cat ,and needs some faith that she will find him on his new adventure. Another story is about a very mischievous monkey healing his sick owner. The fourth out of eight story includes a scaredy cat horse that causes a bunch of trouble. The rider of the public stables loves Fireball very much but, he one day is bought. The main character gets very upset and a Christmas miracle appears to her. All of these stories are great, you should go read the rest, there's eight! I recommend this book to anyone who would love a nice Christmas book.

[kaotickitten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made me smile, a smile so big my cheeks hurt. In this book we meet a lot of animals and their humans. All of the stories are based on real life events.

It is listed as appealing to 4-7 graders and a reading level of Grade 5. I think you can stretch it down to 2nd if you read with them. Also can go a bit higher if they want something to read.

If you are looking for a book to help with understanding short stories this one is good. Also good for reading comprehension and those with short attention spans.

When checking this out the librarian said she used this to get her 7th graders into short story anthology books. Would make a good homeschool book. There is a few naughty words but nothing to bad.

[Jaylynn]

Bad Pets Save Christmas by Allan Zullo tells the story about a family who loves there pets but they even love them if they misbehave. This book takes place near and on Christmas day. I thought the dad was going to get ride of there pet pig after he misbehaved but he got friendly and was not so wild. Then the pig actually saved there lives. Then there dog reunited a broken family. Then the naughty monkey who healed and ill the dad. Over all I think the book was sad and also funny.

[Riley:) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book for younger kiddos. It says 4-7 grade level and I am in 7 grade and this reading level/style is kinda low. I loved the twists and this would be a great book that I would liked to have been read to be around Christmas time in 4 grade. Also, great format and perfect Christmas time short read.

[Ellie Brillhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about different bad pets that save Christmas. I give this book three stars because it was a good but it wasn't over the top amazing. I recommend to anybody who loves a good story about heartwarming pet miracles.

[Vanesa S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! The Christmas stories about bad pets will sure make you laugh. It also make you believe that miracles truly happen in Christmas time. Also that pets that misbehave can bring so much joy to your holidays.

[Nicholas A · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the second chapter the husky finally. Finds his owner and it turns out that's his sister is his brother. It turns out that the owner is sleeping in the wild. Because. He's sad because his dog got stolen then one day his husky came back.

[Laura]

(Elena read this, not me. We don't know how it showed up on my Goodreads account! I think she liked it; not so sure I would.)

[Sam vetter · Rating 2 out of 5]

i did not like the book but that is this me

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

You would like this book if you like pets or if you like when people or animals make a difference or does something good.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very funny and cute. It was more of a small pleasure book to me than a reading one but I still enjoyed it.

[Jennifer Palacios · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is so good I'm going to read it again

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a huge fan of animal stories but this was ok. Christmas themed and apparently true. Kids love these stories.

[Isaac]

it is a great story

[Caroline Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so encourging and sweet

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book that has been passed down to me and as such I wasn't really certain of what this book would contain. Anyway the author does make mention at the start of the book that the book is based on or inspired by events but otherwise it has been dramatized much like Hollywood's attempts at film anymore.

Bad Pets Save Christmas! is a collection of eight various stories with only one, The Holiday Hero was attempted in a diary format. The rest of the stories for the most part are told in standard story format to the reader.

The writing was easy-to-read but the stories are rather mostly forgettable. Meanwhile the concept of saving Christmas is taken rather loosely in some regards: i.e. Leap of Faith was almost a tragedy while The Gift Horse and Catman's Christmas Surprise were stories about how the young protagonist were able to get the greatest gifts of their lives, which shouldn't be the message for saving Christmas, especially since one acted so entitled.

The story that was probably the best for me was A Holly, Jolly Christmas but I don't feel like Holly was actually that naughty in most regards. A Holiday Hero had to give the whole history of the animal being naughty but then again he did save his family for Christmas. And then there is the story of The Night Visitors, which didn't feel like it was explained very well for even though the box was out of sight what made the young protagonist curious enough about it that she wanted to bring it out to the rest of her family so they could actually see what was inside?

All in all this book did definitely have some feel-good moments but the whole altogether was rather hit-or-miss to me. And even though people who like animals may enjoy it or pet owners can relate I just don't think it does a serviceable-enough job for the subject it was meant to tackle.

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had some cute stories in it, though I'm calling foul on the one where the dog supposedly had an aversion to the color red, since dogs are allegedly colorblind.

[Hussam Alqanoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

نيتيت

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells stories of eight pets who, despite their character flaws, helped families in some way at Christmas. Simple but good.

[Kristi Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very cute book.

[anni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotta say one of the best books I ever read.
I read it back to back three times in one day.

[Donna Braly]

I thought they were cute stories.

[Ethan]

well i liked the dog he was so funny it made my teacher go crazy :-)