Henry has started his own critter-sitting business, and his neighbors are his first paying customers. Watching this unruly menagerie is hardly a job for a beginner, but Henry is a true professional and never loses his cool. Still, it takes all his clever critter sitter tricks and a little luck to tame these animal antics and have all the furry, feathered, and slithery creatures back where they belong before the Mahoneys return. With a new, brighter palette and the same intricate detail and amazing perspectives, Critter Sitter will have readers poring over each page.
A boy gets more than he bargained for when he takes on the job of babysitting pets. I suspect kids will find this one more entertaining than I did - I was too worried about the safety of all the critters. Plus, I was not a fan of the author's artwork. The day-glo colors annoyed me, and those highly detailed backgrounds served only to distract from the action.
Henry has no idea what he is about to get himself into when pet-sitting for the Mahoneys. Their only warning is to keep a barbell on top of the snake tank as “our snake is an escape artist.” But Slobberchops, the blood hound creates havoc that has a domino affect with the rest of the pets: the cat, the snake, the bird, the tree frog (and his crickets) ... even the goldfish. What is going to happen when the Mahoneys get home?
Chaos ensues as Henry tries to care for a snake, a dog, a cat, a fish, a bird and a frog in the absence of their owners. A humorous look at the job of a pet sitter.
I really liked this book because it was funny and daring at the same time. The author uses the beginning writing craft in a great way in this story. Right away we are introduced to the main character and an immediate problem he faces. This has the story begin with an intense feeling for the reader because it immediately draws you in to the problem. Right away you want to see if the problem will get worse over time or will the character find a solution right away. In this case more and more problems begin to come in the story causing a domino effect. I think the author uses this element of writing very well because you can see the chain of events that are about to take place as the story progresses. It's like they build off of each other causing this chain reaction throughout the story. I really like that because it brings in that natural cause and effect into play that happens in real life. That is the one idea I would have my students try to do in their writing if I was their writing teacher. I would have them start of telling a story with a problem and have them think about the multiple aspects this problem could effect and the type of reaction the character would have to each effect. This helps to build a great story line and then builds up the intensity of the reader and brings them back down if a solution is found.
Reviewed by Jennifer Wardrip aka "The Genius" for Kids @ TeensReadToo.com
When Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney leave to pick up their kids from Camp Yippie-Yahoo, Henry has his first job as a Critter Sitter.
The Mahoney's don't just have a dog and cat, though. They also have a tree frog, a fish, a bird, and a boa constrictor. It doesn't take long for Henry to find out that keeping Slobberchops in the laundry room, and the bird in its cage, and the snake in its tank is no easy task.
The dog escapes into Mrs. Angora's yard (she's the old lady who lives in a spooky mansion on the top of the hill!), the fish is almost flushed down the toilet, the bird makes a run for it, and there are live crickets all over the kitchen!
Creature Control may be Henry's game, but the Mahoney pets are not making his job easy!
Children will delight in this fun story, and the full-color illustrations only add to the humorous chaos. This is a great bedtime - or anytime! - read for the whole family.
The protagonist of this book is Bobby. Booby loves spiders and his classmate call him spider boy. There is a new bully at school. Bobby makes a new friend named Lucky. He soon realizes that she isnt bad for a girl, and they become very good friends.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about happy endings in books. This was one of those books with an happy ending!
If i were to rate this book out of ten, i would give it a seven and a half. This was a pretty good book.
This is a cute read about being resonsible. It is funny and yet shows a pet sitter in the most nightmarish of situations. I enjoyed it and would use it for a read aloud. The illustrations are a great match to this. Grades K+
Henry is a critter sitter. When he sits for the Mahoneys things get out of hand. When they return it looks like everything went smoothly. They decide to ask him back another time and he decides that it scares him to think about that.
The reality and disaster of responsibility hits Henry hard during his very first job babysitting Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney's menagerie of pets while they are gone for the weekend. The really busy illustrations overwhelm the story.
Very funny story! Chuck Richards came and spoke to the Reading Clinic where I tutored last night. He shared his "dummy" book for Critter Sitter and it was neat to see how this book developed over the course of 2 years.
I really loved this book's illustrations and hilarious cause and effect roller coaster of a pet-sitting job. I thought it was well written and illustrated. I bought it after reading it at the library. I know my kids will love to read this.