Pets and Their Famous Humans, short, artsy tails for 8-10

I’m a glass half full kind of guy. So when I first took a look at Pets and Their Famous Humans I had to set it down. I love pets. I really like humans and I enjoy art. In theory there’s nothing I shouldn’t have not liked about the book. Sensing that I was missing something I showed the book to our 10-year old son. He also loves books, animals and people. “It’s classy”, he succinctly said before diving back into the middle grade book he’s reading.  

To his point, Pets and Their Famous Humans does have a classy first impression. The art in the book is gorgeous, lush and very detailed. It draws readers in and makes them curious about the pets who are portrayed with their famous human.  

This is where the book lost its attention with me. The art kept me glued to the pages, because I love animals. As I looked at the people I tried to figure out who the people were. Of the 20 people shown in the book I immediately knew eight of them. As I turned my attention to the written paragraphs on them I realized that I had heard of or knew 17. Of those nine that I was reminded of I don’t really know much about them, I was just familiar with their name. There were three that I’ve never heard of, but they did have some really awesome pets.  

The book profiles pets that belonged to Frida Kahlo, Henri Matisse, Karl Lagerfeld, Lucian Freud, Mozart, Salvador Dali, Dorothy Parker, Paul Klee and others. Even when I first looked at the book I questioned if this was a book of Famous New Yorkers and Their Pet or just Pets and Their Famous Humans. I know, some of the people in this book aren’t from or didn’t live in NYC all the time.  

Who is this book’s intended audience, I wondered. The text is OK for those upper elementary school kids. They’ll certainly love the artwork and be attracted to the bite sized paragraphs. Some kids that age will know a couple of the people featured in the book, but I suspect they won’t know more than one or two.  

For example, our 10-year old only knew two of the people mentioned in the book. Should he know more about some of them in the book? Absolutely-and if he’s curious in a comfort read about artists, entertainers and philosophers that he doesn’t know then this could be the point of entry for him. But, this is a book that’s all about the pets of these humans. The text spends almost all of its time on the pets; their muse factor and the situations that brought them to be with the human. The people themselves and what they accomplished are mentioned a little bit, but this book isn’t about those on two legs.  

He’s reading the book right now. It’s simple for him to read and he’ll be able to finish the entire book in 10 minutes. Keep in mind that he’s at the top end of the intended reader for the book. Those artsy, younger kids who can read at a mid-third grade level will enjoy the book the most. It also might be ‘too classy’ to attract younger readers who are unfamiliar with the 20 famous people, even if their parents recognize more of them than I did.   

There are affiliate links in this post, because, pets.