Sherrie Giddens

The cover of this book appears to have been created by a child but inside it states that it was made by the author. It features a lion with his tongue sticking out made from cut paper and glued on googly eyes. As well, the word A should not have been capitalized in the title.

Melody is a little girl who asks her mother for a pet lion, tiger, cheetah, and then a cat. The story has a natural rhythm and would be fun to read aloud. Each time Melody asks for a creature, Momma replies, “No lions in the apple tree! No tigers in the playhouse! Or no cheetahs in the backyard.” When Melody pretends to be a black and white cat, Momma agrees that this kind of pet would be nice.

This book had so much great potential. The idea for the pictures was cute but the product seemed rushed and showed minimal effort. There were only eight illustrations and none of the little girl or her mother. The story needed to be broken up into smaller chunks with fewer words on the page. I think it would also be nice to end with a picture of Melody and her new cat.… (més)