Sparky!

One little girl wanted a pet so bad but her mom would say no every time. One day her mom said you can have a pet as long as it doesn't need to go on walks, be feed, or cleaned. The only pet that the girl could think of was a sloth and a sloth she got naming him Sparky. Sparky wasn't like other pets

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he didn't fetch or do tricks he just laid in his branch sleeping or moving very slowly. No one understood why the girl got such a pet but it didn't matter what Sparky did the girl still loved and as him as a friend.

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The protagonist wants a pet - and her mother says no to the bird, the bunny, and the seal. When her mother declares that her daughter can have any pet that "doesn't need to be walked or bathed or fed," the child is off to see the school librarian. I do love when books champion teachers and

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librarians: "Mrs. Kinklebaum (who knows everything in the world) pointed me to Volume S of the Animal Encyclopedia." Since a promise is a promise, the girl gets a sloth and finds that he just can't do much. Know-it-all Mary Potts has something to say about that, which triggers the poor narrator to advertise "trained sloth extravaganza." So much for what jealousy and bragging can yield. Now what? A quirky story to tickle kids' funny bones.

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Read on August 01, 2014

Sweet book about a girl and her unusual pet...a sloth. While no one else might understand the appeal of a sloth, the little girl and Sparky become friends.

child wants a pet and parent doesn't want responsibility of feeding, watering. So child orders a sloth. The sloth is kinda boring but the child makes the best of it. He finds ways to make the best of his pet.

Sparky is story about a girl who wants a pet, her mother tells her she can get anyone she wants as long as it doesn't need to be walked, bathed or fed. After some help from the librarian the girl decides on a sloth. She tries hard to make the sloth into the kind of pet she hopes for, but things

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don't exactly turn out as planned. In the end, the girl learns to accept Sparky for who he is an grows to love him.

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summary: parent says no to a pet that needs to be walked or feed. Therefore, the child orders a sloth and its no good at tricks or hide and seek but still irresistible.

Personal reflection: I enjoyed the art..

Classroom use : good story time book

I was drawn to this book right away due to the super cute, understated artwork. I think it shows how important aesthetic is when creating a story. I appreciate that this book illustrates that pet ownership isn't always a straight path. You never know what kind of demeanor your pet will have and

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it's important to do a lot of research if you decide you want a pet! I did like when Sparky finally smiles when he is next to the tree in the end.

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Honestly this book made me laugh a bit as i read it. It was such a cute book about a young girl who has a sloth as a pet. I love how it is a simple story with very simple illustrations. It fits the book very well. I kept laughing as I read it because I though tit was quite silly that this young

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girl was trying to teach the sloth to do tricks and play with her. Although the sloth never competed the tricks as she had hoped to, she still loved her pet and kept him.

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A young girl desires a pet, but when her mother insists the pet must be low maintenance, the girl's research leads her to a sloth she names Sparky. Unfortunately, Spark's slothful qualities do not make him the most energetic companion, but the girl tries to make the most of her new friendship and

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upholds her responsibilities.

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A little girl wants a pet, but is told she can only have one if it "doesn't need to be walked or bathed or fed". So, she gets a sloth, but has to learn to love him for him and not for what he can do.

Literally the best kid's book ever. EVER.

Summary: A little girl wants a pet, but her mom wouldn't let her have a pet unless the pet didn't need to be walked, bath or fed. So the girls goes to the library and gets an animal encyclopedia where she finds an animal called a sloth. The animal comes to her house by express mail. The sloth was a

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funny looking animal that had a flat nose, a monkey face,and was about the size of an medium dog. The girl named him Sparky, and Sparky was pretty lazy. After the girl put him in a tree all the sloth did was sleep.She wanted to show him off to her friend Mary Potts, but Sparky wouldn't do any tricks for her either. Not even after a time trying to train the sloth. During the Trained Sloth Extravaganza, where Mrs. Edwin , the crossing guard, and Mary Potts came to see the sloth do some tricks, but he never did.
Personal reaction: I liked this book it was fun in a slow way ,but I really like Sparky. The pictures and the colors were good, and mellow.
Extensions: I can see the kids in my class liking Sparky. Asking many questions about him,like where did he come from? Or why wouldn't he do any tricks for the little girl.

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A little girl discovers a sloth is not a trick-performing kind of pet.

The ingenious author of 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore and a brilliant illustrator and production designer of the Coraline movie have created a hilarious, touching picture book perfect for young animal lovers. Like the Caldecott Medal-winning Officer Buckle and Gloria, Sparky stars a pet

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who has more to offer than meets the eye. When our narrator orders a sloth through the mail, the creature that arrives isn't good at tricks or hide-and-seek . . . or much of anything. Still, there's something about Sparky that is irresistible.

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Sloths are adorable, but they are not impressive pets. They don't do tricks. They don't do much of anything. But unconditional love is always good. And the art is charming.

Library copy.

A young girl longs for a pet in this lovely picture-book, but her mother refuses to consider any animal that requires walking, bathing or regular feeding. So the girl gets a sloth, and names her new animal companion Sparky. Unsurprisingly, Sparky isn't a particular active pet, something the girl at

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first has trouble accepting, attempting to teach him tricks and to get him to perform for the neighbors. Eventually however, she must come to terms with her slothful sloth's essential nature, and accept him for what and who he is...

Illustrated by the immensely talented Chris Appelhans, whose work I recently discovered through the newly published A Greyhound, A Groundhog (written by Emily Jenkins), Sparky! is a visually appealing picture-book, with a muted but lovely color scheme that put me in mind of such artists as Jon Klassen and Carson Ellis, and a skillful depiction of its heroine's changing emotional state. It is also a well-written book, one which explores a child's experiences getting a new pet and adapting to that pet's needs. In fact, author Jenny Offill won a Charlotte Zolotow Award, given out annually by the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Education for the best writing in the picture-book genre. All in all, this was charming book, one I would recommend to anyone looking for children's stories about getting an animal companion, and accepting that not all such companions will be prodigies and/or entertainment animals.

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I really loved the illustration style in this book. However, I did feel that sometimes the transitions in the story could be a bit better.

Too darn cute...a sloth for a pet.

Wonderful, expressive illustrations, and a clever, funny story about a pet that doesn't do much and his owner. Loved it!