What Pet Should I Get?

What Pet Should I Get? is, unmistakably, a Dr. Seuss book, from its eyelashed fish and oddly antlered beasts to its headlong monosyllabic rhythm, and for that alone it's comfortable and endearing. But in other ways it's not typical Seuss at all: there's little of the madcap wordplay or chaotic invention of, say, Fox in Socks or Green Eggs and Ham. Instead (which may appeal more to some small readers) there's a straightforward emotional drama: two kids paralyzed by an overwhelming choice (and the hauntingly repeated parental demand, "MAKE UP YOUR MIND!"). Happily, their dilemma is resolved in a mysterious, Seussian way—that is, unless they've brought home the Once-ler! (Ages 3 to 6 and 36 to 66)