Quirky Book Lists: Classroom Pets

8 Class Pets + 1 Squir­rel [÷] 1 Dog = Chaos
writ­ten by Vivian Vande Velde
illus­trat­ed by Steve Bjork­man
Hol­i­day House, 2012

Squir­rel likes liv­ing near a school play­ground. He’s not so sure about going inside, though, espe­cial­ly when he’s chased there by a dog and all the class­room pets get involved. Each ani­mal gets to tell its side of the story.

Arthur and the School Pet

writ­ten by Marc Brown
illus­trat­ed by Marc Tolon
Ran­dom House (Step into Read­ing 2), 2003

Speedy, the class ger­bil, needs a home over Christ­mas vaca­tion. D.W. vol­un­teers to take care of Speedy. Sur­pris­es ensue.

Chick­en, Pig, Cow and the Class Pet  

writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Ruth Ohi
Annick Press, 2011

When Girl takes Chick­en, Pig, and Cow to school with her one day, the three friends meet the class ham­ster. One of sev­er­al Chick­en, Pig, Cow pic­ture books by the acclaimed Cana­di­an author-illustrator.

Emmy and the Incred­i­ble Shrink­ing Rat
writ­ten by Lynne Jonell
illus­trat­ed by Jonathan Bean
Hen­ry Holt, 2007

Emmy hard­ly sees her par­ents, she doesn’t like her new nan­ny, and she feels invis­i­ble in her new school. Then she dis­cov­ers  she can under­stand the class pet — a rat — and every­thing changes.

I.Q. Gets Fit

writ­ten and illus­trat­ed Mary Ann Fras­er
Walk­er & Com­pa­ny, 2007

Dur­ing Fit­ness Month, I.Q., the class pet, learns impor­tant lessons about stay­ing healthy as he tries to win a gold rib­bon in the School Fit­ness Challenge.

Mal­colm at Midnight

writ­ten by W.H. Beck
pic­tures by Bri­an Lies
Houghton Mif­flin Har­court, 2012

Mal­colm the rat is the new class pet at a school were all the class pets have formed a secret soci­ety, the Mid­night Acad­e­my. When the Academy’s igua­na leader is kid­napped, Mal­colm must prove his inno­cence and dis­prove the Acad­e­my mem­bers’ belief that rats can’t be trust­ed. (There’s also a sequel, Mal­colm Under the Stars.)

Mis­sy’s Super Duper Roy­al Deluxe #2: Class Pets 

writ­ten by Susan Nees
Scholas­tic, 2013

Mis­sy wants to take home the class pets, but anoth­er girl, Tiffany, has already asked their teacher. Can Mis­sy and her friend Oscar come up with a plan to make Tiffany change her mind? Book two in a series.

Smashie McPert­er and the Mys­tery of Room 11 

writ­ten by N. Grif­fin
illus­trat­ed by Kate Hind­ley
Can­dlewick, 2015

Ham­ster feet are creepy, and that’s one rea­son Smashie’s not a fan of Room 11’s beloved, Patch­es. But when Patch­es goes miss­ing, Smashie suits up and with her best friend, Don­tel, launch­es an inves­ti­ga­tion to bring the thief to justice.

Stop That Frog (Here’s Hank #3)

writ­ten by Hen­ry Win­kler and Lin Oliv­er
illus­trat­ed by Scott Gar­rett
Gros­set & Dun­lap, 2014

When the prin­ci­pal has to be away from school at a con­fer­ence, Han­k’s class agrees to take care of the prin­ci­pal’s spe­cial pet frog, and Hank is cho­sen to take the frog home for the weekend.

Teacher’s Pets

writ­ten by Dayle Ann Dodds
illus­trat­ed by Mar­i­lyn Hafn­er
Can­dlewick, 2010

One by one the stu­dents in Miss Fry’s room bring a pet for shar­ing day. And one by one, the pets get left behind. What will hap­pen when the school year’s over? 

The Wacky Substitute

writ­ten by Sal­ly Der­by
illus­trat­ed by Jen­nifer Her­bert
Mar­shall Cavendish, 2005

When Mr. Wuerst, the sub­sti­tute kinder­garten teacher at Mer­ry­vale School, drops his glass­es into the fry­ing pan one morn­ing, he ends up wear­ing a dish tow­el to school instead of his scarf and he mis­takes the class ger­bils for fur caps.

The World Accord­ing to Humphrey

writ­ten by Bet­ty G. Bir­ney 
Put­nam and Sons, 2004

Humphrey, pet ham­ster at Longfel­low School, learns that he has an impor­tant role to play in help­ing his class­mates and teacher. First book in a series.