Pets: A Comprehensive Handbook for Kids - Softcover

Gr. 4^-6. The fourth edition of a reliable handbook originally published in 1953, this explains the care of dogs, cats, rodents, birds, fish, farm animals, and wild animals. While the text is fundamentally the same paragraph for paragraph, it has been rewritten to conform to current standards of gender in language, social responsibility in breeding, and current knowledge of animals and pet care. As in the third edition, the section on skunks ends with the sentence, "Skunks, like all wild animals, should live their natural lives and not be caged or kept for our amusement." On the other hand, the section on lizards advises readers on the kind of box or tank to provide for these "pets." Still, children will bring wild animals home, and libraries will find this a useful update of the 1974 edition. Carolyn Phelan