Extreme Pets! - Jane Harrington

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

25 Jul 2008 10:08 AM

If you have an animal lover in the family, or if your family is considering a new pet, pick up a copy of Extreme Pets! by Jane Harrington. The book is loaded with marvelous color photographs.

While Extreme Pets! makes owning these unique pets look very exciting, it also deals with the realities of cage cleaning and costs. The book also emphasizes responsible pet ownership. The book starts with a pet pact - making sure that the owner knows they are responsible for special feeding, care, safety, potential allergies, and medical care.

Extreme Pets! is wire bound, which makes the book able to stay flat and pages easy to turn. It's divided into five tabbed sections: cold-blooded; pocket pets; insects; slimy pets, and a D.I.Y. Guide. The D.I.Y. guide is actually advice on how to convince your parents to let you have a certain animal. The guide suggests doing your homework on pet care, showing you are responsible, and keeping your room neat!

Each featured pet has photos, descriptions, an explanation of their natural habit and how the pet owner can replicate a comfortable home for the pet, security concerns like screens, feeding instructions, and statistics on their lifespan and size. Each pet also receives a "report card" with grades for Coolness, Aroma ( if you keep the cage clean), Aroma (if you don't keep the cage clean), Neatness, Ease of Care, and Cost Factor. You'll also find questions and answers about the reality of taking care of this particular pet. Questions like what it's like to feed mice to a snake, what it feels like to touch a snake, if you can teach ferrets tricks, and how to file a sugar gliders nails.

Extreme Pets! covers animals like bearded dragons, blue-tongued skinks, corn snakes, Madagascan hissing cockroaches, tree frogs, sugar gliders, tadpoles, tarantulas, green anoles, giant African millipedes, and Monarch butterflies.

Our one and only pet is a part golden retriever part Australian shepherd dog. That doesn't stop my children from dreaming though. Extreme Pets! lets them dream of having a whole personal zoo of weird creatures, and teaches them a lot about the world and the marvelous and diverse animals that share our planet.

This book is recommended for upper elementary and middle school ages, although the photos will interest much younger children.

Also See: Families.com Pets Blog

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas Books for Pet Lovers

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger