Can I Keep Him?

by Steven Kellogg

Arnold just wants a pet. But after trying to bring home a dog and a cat, his imagination runs wild with all of the pets he could bring home, even a dinosaur! But what he really needs is a friend, and guess who just moved down the street.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Pets, Animals, Fiction, Friendship, Fantasy

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Steven Kellogg is an author and illustrator who has contributed over 90 books for children. He is best known for writing books about animals, for which he credits his grandmother .

Reviews

[Mir]

Don't bother asking the titular question, kids.
Parents automatically say no.

[Jason Orendorff]

My favorite of Steven Kellogg’s picture books.

The good: Very simple story. Lovely wordless two-page spreads showing Arnold and his imagination. Excellent line drawings. I don’t even like Kellogg’s illustrations usually but these made me smile.

There’s no black or red: the book is printed with just sepia, yellow, and cyan ink. So Kellogg fills the pages with leaves, water, ice, and tons of sunlight. :)

The bad: Nothing much. ...Well, it is from the 70s. Mom spends the day doing chores in a ruffly apron and one-inch heels; the one time Dad is pictured, he’s reading the paper in an armchair while she is being eaten by a tiger. Also: Kellogg likes drawing adults in exaggerated poses of surprise and dismay (pulling at their hair, etc.) which irritates me for some reason. Pet peeve I guess.

Kellogg’s picture books are about feelings. Some of them (like Much Bigger Than Martin) are too contrived and sitcom-like for my taste. This one is contrived too, but the story structure is fairy-tale-like, not sitcom-like. So the pat ending strikes me as endearing, not trite.

[Rachael]

Grade: K-1st Topic: Animal features, Habitats, Basic needs

Why do you think his mother was so against him having a pet?
Perhaps it was the pets he was choosing!

This could be a literature piece read as an introduction to a lesson on animal habitats and what all creatures needs to survive (food, shelter, water, air) but how those needs are met in different ways depending on where an animal lives.

[Karen Pirrung]

The first book my son asked me to read for him, so of course this one is very special to me.

[Deb]

Alena was continually smiling as I read this book to her. I think she wants a pet. I am the mom who says no for one reason or another. I like how this book shows the child's imagination.

[Daniel]

Inconsistent foreshadowing structure.

[Mort]

The book speaks about friendship. Illustrations are good & a wonderful fantasy book

[Sandy]

A fun story with entertaining illustrations. A classic. Also serves as an introductory example to a persuasive argument.

[Alissa]

This book was about a boy, Arnold, who kept asking his mother if he could bring home different animals he had found. Some of these animals included a dog, a cat, a tiger, and a dinosaur, among others as well. He ended up brining home a boy who moved in next door. Arnold's mother said he can't keep him but he can come over for a playdate!

I would use this book in my classroom to teach about companionship through other humans. In the book you can tell the mother is busy and all Arnold wants to do is spend time with someone other than continuously playing in the sandbox outside. Arnold wanted a friend so bad so he kept bringing home things he thought would make him happy, but all the animals he brought home weren't a good fit for a house. He made a new human friend!

[寿理 宮本]

A cute story about a boy who keeps finding more and more exotic animals (in his dreams) and asks his mother whether he can keep them. There's a point where his mother realises the boy can't possibly be serious, so her answers—while perfectly reasonable for the dog and kitten—become sort of distracted after a time. (Her ONLY complaint about the bear is it would smell bad?)

Recommended for all ages! I don't know if it would help with young (or old!) readers who really really really want a pet, though. *looks sadly at pet-free house*

[Maliha Arman]

This book was very enjoyable, for it has a realistic and imaginative storyline. It shows the differences in having an animal as a pet and creating a friendship that easier to maintain. I would use this book when talking about animals to help compare the differences and similarities between the ones we can have as pets and those that may hurt you if they were your pet.

[Diane]

Arnold has a knack for finding animals that need homes. But his mother also has a knack for coming up with reasons why he can’t keep any of them. From dogs to dinosaurs, kittens to tigers — he tries it all. Until he brings Ralph home — the boy next door. “No, Arnold, you can’t keep him, but you can play with him.”

[Adriana Palencia]

This book follows a little boy who just wants a pet, and he ends up finding a friend. The mom came up with some thoughtful responses as to why he couldn’t keep an animal. I also enjoyed the little boy’s creative imagination.

[Yaricsa Lizama]

A book about a child somehow getting animals and asking his mother if he can keep them. It is a very educational book about animals. In the very end, the little boy found a boy to play with. It is a very cute and interesting book, I highly recommend it.

[Doniell]

Not my favorite Kellogg book, but I do love the mother having wicked kankles! The pictures are interesting, but I have a paperback 70s copy so the color has faded and many of the drawings are hard to discern detail without excellent lighting.

[Jess]

June 2017 - I've been meaning to start reading Steven Kellogg to Ben (and for me, too, since I somehow missed him as a kid). Great humor.

[Seema Rao]

Oh, how I enjoy this tale which reminds every adult of the many lost things you had hoped to keep, like tadpoles and butterflies, though this case takes this impetus to a monumental level.

[Marilyn]

This story is delightful. Alissa loved it. She was so sad for him when he got stolen.

[Kaelin Miller]

I read this book to a kindergarten class and they were very engaged. I personally was fond of the book, too! It's great for lessons about pets!

[Tabitha Vanover]

I enjoyed this book . The boy just wanted someone to play with so he wouldn't be board. An he found a friend.

[Paola Nunez]

I like how this book shows the differences in having a pet and a friendship. I also Like how the little boy has a great imagination.

[Mayra Harrison]

This book is about a child who wanted to keep different animals but can not. This book is very educational. I really enjoyed reading this book. I would read this to children who are 4 and up.

[Heather Lee]

Really cute.

[Amanda Novak]

Owned as part of "Pinkerton and Friends" Treasury.

[Debi Cates]

LOL

Great illustrations.

[Chloe M]

Modren Fantasy
1st-3rd Grade
This is such a sweet book about animals and hoping! Throughout the story, it teaches the differences between animals and that there are some animals that would not make good pets. As I kid, it's easy to hope for your mom to say yes to anything you want. But this cute story holds a good reminder that the answer from mom is often no, and in this case, for a very good reason which she explains. The beautiful illustrations were my favorite part of this book.

[Lynn Davidson]

Arnold is a lonely little boy who wants a pet. He keeps bringing strays home. His mother makes him take back the dog, the kitten, the fawn, the bear cub, the tiger cub, the python, but she is too busy to play with him herself. When a new family moves to their street, Arnold wants to keep his new friend. Cute story with lovely illustrations in monotone.

[Mary Hertel]

This book is about a typical child wanting a friend to play with. he finds various animals all by themselves such as a dog, a fawn, a bear, and a dinosaur and continues to ask his mother if he can keep them, bending her reasons of why he cannot have such and such animal. We see that he is only a lonely boy and that his mother is too bus to play with him and he just wishes he had a friend. He eventually finds a young boy who wishes to be his friend and his mother allows him to play with the boy.

Illustrations tell a secondary story. Although they may go along with the words, the images tell their own story. They are not vital to the story, but are vital to a secondary story of the mother's imagination on how keeping such an animal would not be a good idea. On the second page we read that the neighbors do not like dogs, but with the images we can see that they hate dogs all together and wish their were no dogs at all.

This story does a good job in displaying the real curiosity and and way a child would act. The circumstances in the book remain realistic except when they get to the more dangerous animals such as bear a tiger. Children really do wish to have pets to play and bond with although some animals were not optimal for that position. The mother's reasons are also very realistic int eh way of shutting down the child, but doing it in a nice way. The situation of parents being too busy to play with their child and the child being lonely is also a very realistic situation in which most children go through nowadays, the ending with him finding a friend is a great way to suggest to the child to find others like themselves and play outside.

[Books Kids Like]

A little boy brings home a stray dog and asks his mother if he can keep him. Afraid to annoy the neighbors who hate dogs, the mother tells the boy to take the dog back to where he found it. Next he brings home a lost kitten. Unfortunately, Grandmother is allergic to cats. After this the animals the boy brings home become more exotic: a fawn, a bear cub, a tiger cub, and a python. Each time his mother has some reason why he can't keep the animal. When he brings home a dinosaur that had been frozen in the glaciers of Alaska, his mother sends him out to play. The boy finds another boy. Again he asks, "Can I keep him?" Mother responds, "No...but he may be our friend." While mother is scrubbing the floor, the friend brings her a pigeon.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Jeffrey]

A cute little book about a child struggling for attention and companionship while his mother has to do the household chores. It's from the seventies, if you haven't guessed. The child keeps trying to bring pets home with increasing audacity as the mother struggles to keep finding reasons to reject his latest acquisition. It's fun and silly and the art does provide some nice in-jokes for the parents, but the coloring and fine-line work don't translate as well in the modern bright and clear artwork era. Still a nice little addition to the collection and good for early readers to read aloud.