Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Terrible. This autobiographical vignette normalizes the exotic animal trade and perpetuates hurtful stereotypes of the animals it portrays. It suggests that a complex, feeling creature such as an elephant may simply be taken from its home, confined in a crate, and shipped to an address for the purpose of being someone's pet, then casually returned if it fails to serve as the perfect companion animal. The protagonist repeats the same process with several other animals, shaming some as too big or too tall, dismissing others as too grumpy or too fierce, and even passing moral judgement on one as being too naughty. Nonetheless, the zoo, greedily complicit in the whole fiasco, does eventually send an acceptable pet. Given the author's historically disrespectful approach to pet ownership, I'm not convinced this is an entirely happy ending. Nah, j/k. It's cute and fun and our 1-year-old frickin' loves it. It's durable, the flaps are different shapes & sizes and open in different directions, and the design isn't too busy (like the Little Red Barn, Little Blue Boat, etc. series). Five stars.