The Teacher’s Pet is a fun new Children’s Book from Disney Hyperion about an unconventional class pet. I think everyone remembers their class pets with fondness. I remember begging my mom to let me take home the class hamster in elementary school and one of my science teachers even had a large collection of reptiles and amphibians. But the pet in The Teacher’s Pet beats them all!
Mr. Stricter has his class grow tadpoles and as they grow bigger, they decide to release all except one, who was the smallest in the batch and looked a little different. They name him Bruno and he continues to grow. When he begins to cause problems for the class, like eating their homework or even their desks and chairs, Mr. Stricter makes up excuses. But the kids know they need to do something soon since their class “frog” looks more like a hippo!
Written by Anica Mrose Rissi, author of the popular Anna, Banana chapter book series, this story is full of charm. The illustrations are by Zachariah Ohora, whose style and color choices are reminiscent of children’s books from the 1970’s. Under the dust jacket is alternate artwork of Bruno and the inside of both covers features a growth cycle for frogs (egg-tadpole-frog), but the back version swaps the frog with Bruno.
Released at the height of summer, The Teacher’s Pet would make a great back-to-school gift for kids entering pre-kindergarten or kindergarten. Parents will have a lot of fun reading this with their kids and since they keep referring to Bruno as a frog when he is obviously a hippo, they’re sure to laugh themselves silly.