Sparky!

A young girl longs for a pet in this lovely picture-book, but her mother refuses to consider any animal that requires walking, bathing or regular feeding. So the girl gets a sloth, and names her new animal companion Sparky. Unsurprisingly, Sparky isn't a particular active pet, something the girl at first has trouble accepting, attempting to teach him tricks and to get him to perform for the neighbors. Eventually however, she must come to terms with her slothful sloth's essential nature, and accept him for what and who he is...

Illustrated by the immensely talented Chris Appelhans, whose work I recently discovered through the newly published A Greyhound, A Groundhog (written by Emily Jenkins), Sparky! is a visually appealing picture-book, show more with a muted but lovely color scheme that put me in mind of such artists as Jon Klassen and Carson Ellis, and a skillful depiction of its heroine's changing emotional state. It is also a well-written book, one which explores a child's experiences getting a new pet and adapting to that pet's needs. In fact, author Jenny Offill won a Charlotte Zolotow Award, given out annually by the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Education for the best writing in the picture-book genre. All in all, this was charming book, one I would recommend to anyone looking for children's stories about getting an animal companion, and accepting that not all such companions will be prodigies and/or entertainment animals. show less

A little girl dreams of having a pet but her mom keeps saying no. She finally asks so many times that her mom says she can get a pet that "doesn't need to be walked or bathed or fed". She the little girl orders herself a sloth. The sloth arrives and she names it Sparky. Sparky loves to sleep, a lot. The little girls wishes Sparky would play games with her, but the only thing he is good at is playing Statue. Her friend Mary Potts thinks her sloth is boring so the little girl decides to hold a Trained Sloth Extravaganza! She tries to train Sparky to do tricks, but come time for the show Sparky did not perform. At the end of the day, everyone had left and it was just Sparky and the girl. She tagged Sparky and he didn't tag her back....it show more was going to be a very long game, and the little girl was ok with that.

I love sloths so I am a biased reviewer when it comes to this book, but I think it is just darling. As much as this little girl wanted a normal exciting pet, Sparky just wasn't right for the job. No matter how hard she tried, Sparky was just about the most boring pet you could imagine. By the end of the story, the little girl accepts Sparky for who he/she is, and they sit together in silence enjoying each others company. All she needed was a companion, no matter how boring.

1) The award the book received:
- Charlotte Zolotow Award

2) An original description of the award:
- The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year. Established in 1998, the award is named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children's book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books, and author of more than 70 picture books, including such classic works as Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present (Harper, 1962) and William's Doll (Harper, 1972). Ms. Zolotow attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison on a writing scholarship from 1933-36 where she studied with Professor Helen C. White.

The award is administered by the Cooperative Children's Book Center, a children's literature library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Each year a committee of children's literature experts selects the winner from the books published in the preceding year. The winner is announced in January each year. A bronze medallion is formally presented to the winning author in the spring during an annual public event that honors the career of Charlotte Zolotow.

Members of the selection committee are appointed to a two-year term by the CCBC professional staff based on an individual's knowledge of children's books, a demonstrated ability to evaluate children's books and discuss them critically, and/or direct experience working professionally with children from birth through age seven. A CCBC librarian serves as one of the five members. Members are appointed to staggered, two-year terms.

3) The book citation (APA format):
Offill, J., & Appelhans, C. (2014). Sparky! New York, NY: Schwartz & Wade Books. show less

The Littles and I read this book together this evening. I was the reader, and that was fun because this book is definitely a read aloud one.

I invented a Book Bingo game that we play after we do a bit of reading together. One of the bingo spots is "imaginary" and we used the picture of the sloth Sparky! being delivered in a box as an example of imaginary. I was glad the girls understood that sloths do not (and should not) be delivered in a box as a pet. In a way, though, I think that a sloth not making a good pet, due to no fault of its own, was part of the beauty of the story. That, and how we can love something even if it doesn't perform any so-called value for us. It just is itself.

This was the oldest Littles favorite of this show more evening's reads, so it's a five star rating. The granny (me) loved the illustrations and the authentic pre-pubescent perspective. show less

This review originally posted at The Children's Book and Media Review

When the little girl’s mother says that she can only have a pet that doesn’t need to be walked, bathed, or fed, the little girl discovers that a sloth would be the perfect friend to have. A bird or a trained seal would take too much work, but her librarian helps her learn that sloths sleep most of the time and rarely eat, so she orders her new pet. She plays games with her new pet, Sparky, with various success. When her friend Mary comes over to see Sparky, she starts to feel like maybe Sparky isn’t good enough so she decides to have a Trained Sloth Extravaganza to prove that he is a great pet. When he doesn’t perform as she hoped he would, the little girl has show more to come to understand that her pet is unique and has his own gifts.

The narrator’s confidence that Sparky is a great pet even when he is not the most obedient or playful is charming. The book reflects the unnamed little girl’s attitudes in illustrations and repeated lines such as “a promise is a promise” and the amusing illustrations, such as the sloth inside the Express Mail box. When she loves her pet in spite of him being different from most other pets and she is determined to prove that he is a great pet, the reader is reminded that it is important to love pets (and people) for being just who they are. Sparky! is a delightful book that will thrill young audiences and adults alike. show less

I read Sparky at the local bookstore and I loved it. The storyline is delightful and not too baby-ish, in fact, the heroine is an upper elementary school girl. I enjoyed the art as well and I think that they are both fantastic. The illustrations are simple and appealing. It is definitely one I would read to an older student and I would buy it for an adult friend who was considering their first pet.

I love Sparky the sloth and I love our protagonist for loving Sparky. Even though he's not a traditional pet, and he can't really do any tricks and he isn't good at any games (except Statue, he's really really good at that) and Mary Potts thinks he's not a real pet, our girl loves him. The illustrations are beautiful watercolours and the whole thing has a really melancholy feel to it.

The protagonist wants a pet - and her mother says no to the bird, the bunny, and the seal. When her mother declares that her daughter can have any pet that "doesn't need to be walked or bathed or fed," the child is off to see the school librarian. I do love when books champion teachers and librarians: "Mrs. Kinklebaum (who knows everything in the world) pointed me to Volume S of the Animal Encyclopedia." Since a promise is a promise, the girl gets a sloth and finds that he just can't do much. Know-it-all Mary Potts has something to say about that, which triggers the poor narrator to advertise "trained sloth extravaganza." So much for what jealousy and bragging can yield. Now what? A quirky story to tickle kids' funny bones.