Can I Keep Him?

I kept laughing over this short story about a young boy who keeps begging his mother for a pet. The illustrations are classic Kellogg, with lots going on in the background and margins. This one is heading straight to my granddaughter!

A little boy begs his mom to let him keep different stray animals he finds or imagines, but she keeps turning him down, until he brings home a neighbor boy. The little boy seems like the typical child who gets lonely and wants to bring in every stray creature he finds available to him. There is no given setting, but it could easily take place anywhere, and the story is very easy for children to relate to. The theme is one of encouraging imagination, and making friends to keep you company. The style uses a lot of repetition, and the illustrations are representative of the imagination the boy has and what is happening in the story. This was a very enjoyable story and I would include it in my collection.

When Arnold brings home a stray dog and asks if he can keep him, his mother has an argument against it -- noise. When he brings home a lost kitten, her argument is fur allergies. So Arnold starts to imagine other possible pets and quizzes his mother about each, e.g., a fawn from the forest, a bear who fell off a circus train, an extraneous tiger cub from the zoo, a python from a carnival, and a dinosaur chipped out of the ice in Alaska. But to each his mother has an argument against it. So lonely Arnold goes outside to play and meets a new boy called Ralph who just moved in down the street -- and Arnold asks his mother, "Can I keep him?" His mother, of course, says no, and sends them out to play. A double-spread then shows Arnold show more sharing his imagination -- of the two of them on an island swarming with birds -- with Ralph, and the final illustration is of Ralph approaching his mother with a lonely bird and the reader is sure he's asking her, "Can I keep him?" show less

A little boy who wants a pet keeps bringing new animals home to his mother. Each time he comes, his mother gives him another reason, and each time the little boy finds a pet who meets the requirements, only to receive another reason the new pet is unsuitable. The drawings are quite humorous.

Cute story of a lonely boy's need for a pet. His mother is weird though.

Poor Arnold. I'm glad there's a solution to his loneliness next door. But I tell you what, when mine were little & expressed boredom or loneliness, first we did chores *together* and then we played or read *together.*

A little boy keeps asking his mom to let him keep these animals he keeps coming across, even the ones from his imagination, but the mom says no. One day he brings home the neighbor. The little boy's imagination gets wild sometimes but it makes the book really cute.