Pet the Pets: A Lift-the-Flap Book: A Considered Take
A lift-the-flap book that genuinely understands the toddler-pet dynamic — complete with the part where the pet tries to escape. Charming, sturdy, and surprisingly wise about animal body language.
I've been thinking lately about how we teach children to interact with animals, and the answer, most of the time, is: we don't, really. We hand them a cracker to feed the ducks, we say 'gentle' approximately eight hundred times, and we hope for the best. The animals in question — particularly cats, who have strong opinions and no diplomatic instincts — are left to communicate their preferences through means that usually result in someone crying.
This is why I was so genuinely pleased when I came across *Pet the Pets* by Sarah Lynne Reul. It's a lift-the-flap board book for toddlers, and its central premise is deceptively simple: different animals have different feelings about being touched, and you can tell by paying attention. The flaps reveal the animal's inner state — happy, nervous, overstimulated — and the text guides little hands accordingly. It sounds like a small thing. It is not a small thing.
I think about my cat Ptolemy, who is a creature of considerable dignity and very clear preferences. He will accept chin scratches from approved persons at approved times. He will not accept being picked up mid-nap by someone who has just discovered the word 'squish.' The number of times I've had to explain to visiting children that Ptolemy's flattened ears are not a hat invitation is genuinely uncountable. A book that teaches children to look at the animal first, touch second — that's not just cute. That's useful. That's the kind of thing that keeps both the child and the cat in one emotional piece.
What Reul does particularly well is resist the urge to make all the animals universally delighted by human attention. The dog is wiggly and thrilled, yes. The cat is more complicated. The rabbit is watchful. This is honest, and children can handle honesty — they're often better at it than adults give them credit for. Presenting animals as individuals with preferences rather than props who exist to be cuddled is a genuinely progressive move for a board book, and it sets a foundation for how kids relate to animals for years to come.
For anyone building out a pet-themed shelf for a toddler — or looking for a baby shower gift that's both adorable and actually useful — *Pet the Pets* belongs in the stack. It's the kind of book that the adults in the room will find themselves reading with real attention, not just performing. And if it means one fewer startled cat, one fewer tearful child, and one fewer 'I told you not to grab the tail' conversation — well. That's worth a lot.