Henry, a boy of an unknown age has a pet; Spot the Duck. Not the most conventional of pets but it works for this book. Henry’s birthday is tomorrow, and he is thinking about all the presents he is going to get. Spot thinks that he has gotten Henry the perfect present, but Henry’s Grandparents give him a more perfect present, a dog. Spot and his present are pushed aside, and Spot feels miserable. Spot runs away from home and while leaving in the middle of the night it starts to rain. Spot then gets stranded in a tree in the middle of a river. Henry and the dog come to rescue Spot. Spot’s hurt feeling are repaired, and the dog becomes the perfect pet for both Henry and Spot.
The most
important teaching moment in the book is for kids not to make hasty decisions,
like running away from home, but rather talk about your feelings. If Spot had
told Henry how he was feeling left out and was not listening to him maybe
things would have turned out differently. The Perfect Present also makes the
point that there is room in your life for more than one Pet/Person.
I thought
the book gave valuable life lesson without being too preachy. The book conveyed
more of leading by example versus this what you should say or how you should
act. There was lots of excitement between the
birthday present, the storm and the rescue to hold my Grandchildren’s
attention. I did like the illustrations and overall give the book five stars.
Fun Activity: Ask the members of your family what they think would be the perfect present.
Published In: 2011
Publisher: Penguin Group
Age Level: 2-5 years old
AR Level: 3.1
Pages: 32
Stars: 5
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