What Pet Will I Get?

What parent hasn't heard their child say "I want a puppy, or a kitten?" Or he or she might want a more exotic pet like a ferret, snake, hamster, lizard, even a snail. How do you explain that your home may not be right for a pet? Still, you may give in, deciding that teaching a child to take care of a pet helps teach responsibility. In this wonderful story the kind of pet is the surprise. What Pet Will I Get? tells this charming story through the voice of a child hoping for the pet he's "wanted all his life." The reader shares the excitement of a child as he imagines mom coming home with a great pet. He is literally jumping with anticipation: "I've pictured this day / So long in my head / I make my own bed." But when Mom comes home with only a single guppy our narrator is crushed until he begins to actually find out more about guppies on his computer. Soon he begins to "decorate" the guppy's home and learns that his fish is more than a pet but a new and wonderful part of his life.