8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos (review)

When sassy squirrel Twitch is threatened by an owl, the open door of the nearby elementary school seems like a godsend. The principal's dog (over whose nose Twitch has trampled in his escape from the owl) thinks otherwise, though, so the chase is then on, and Twitch darts in and out of every classroom in the building trying to keep out of the indignant dog's grasp while enlisting aid from various class pets (each of whom narrates a chapter) in the process. That turns out to be a surprisingly successful recipe for a middle-grades novel; the storytelling is smart and snappy, and the tone is highly humorous. Additionally, each pet's narrative voice is both entertaining in its individuality and faithful to that animal's characteristics: the third-grade class' neon tetras, for example, keep repeating (somewhat mindlessly) "We are in a school," while the science-lab geckos speak alternate lines ("NEWTON: Sometimes we get mangoes. I like mangoes. GALILEO: I know you do. I prefer the houseflies, which are crunchier. NEWTON: But not as sweet"), and the fifth grade's corn snake favors words with sibilant syllables ("Sneaky and slithery, yes. But stroke my skin and see: I'm not the slightest bit slimy"). Björkman's slightly scratchy black-and-white illustrations effectively echo the text's light, comic tone, and they successfully serve to punctuate, but never interrupt, the narrative flow. This will be an easy sell to animal lovers and those looking for a quick, funny read, but it also sits up and begs to be read aloud; creative adults and kids might also be able to develop it into a comedic readers' theater production.