Dr. Potts, My Pets Have Spots!

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"A fun read aloud for story times about veterinarians and pets" - Youth Services Book Review

The Betts family pets have got the spots! But when the vet's advice only turns the critters' spots to stripes, what will the Betts crew do next? As kids giggle and guess their way through this riotously funny picture book, they'll practice recognizing patterns and build literacy skills. Written by legendary British comedian Rod Hull and illustrated by Barefoot favorite Miriam Latimer.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Horn Book Review

Mr. Betts takes his eight pets to the vet, all with bad cases of spots. The cure leads to stripes, then to beards and other "disorders." The bouncing rhyming text and a catchy refrain (reminiscent of Millions of Cats) combine with expressive characters in the acrylic and collage illustrations to emphasize the absurdity of Mr. Betts's predicament. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

When Mr. Betts brings all his pets to the vet for a cure for spots, it takes several attempts and choices of medicine to finally produce a satisfying result.Proving medicine's inexact science, Dr. Potts, a white vet with a black vet tech, tries her best through trial and error to find a solution. The green potion removes the spots only to bring out stripes; the blue medicine removes stripes but produces beards; the yellow stuff eliminates beards but leaves the animals crying. "A crying fish, a crying cat, a sobbing snake, a sobbing rat, / A weeping rabbit, a weeping frog, a wailing canary, a wailing dog." Each new attempt inspires curiosity as to what will happen next, and sure enough the red tincture stops the weeping but leaves Mr. Betts mystified as his animals have now "SHRUNK IN SIZE!" and are now a "very small fish, a very small cat, a little snake, a little rat, / A minute rabbit, a minute frog, a tiny canary, a tiny dog." The rhyming text moves the humorous narrative forward, announcing each new development with a cumulative pattern offering a variety of synonyms in the refrain. Cartoon illustrations in acrylic and collage of a brown-skinned family bring out both exasperation at the hopelessness of the vet and sympathy for all involved. How to cure smallness? Mr. Betts is instructed to just feed his creatures, who indeed grow healthy. Couple this with Jules Feiffer's Bark, George (1999). "Veterinary misadventure" doesn't normally pair with "rollicking read-aloud," but here it does. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.