Monday, October 2, 2023

Browsing the Beginning Chapter Books: Animal Inn: A Furry Fiasco by Paul Dubois Jacobs, illustrated by Jennifer Swender

Genre: Animals; Mystery
Protagonists: Animals, Mixed genders
Reading Level: 800s
Series: Complete with 5 titles
Last reviewed in February 2021

Review: Usually, if I really can't find a book in our consortium and borrow it from inter-library loan, it turns out that there's a reason it wasn't owned by any of our member libraries (our consortium covers four counties). However, every once in a while I find an overlooked gem and that's what I've found in this series.

Leopold Augustus Gonzalo Tyler, the narrator and a scarlet macaw, joins Dash, the family's Tibetan Terrier as the original members of the Tyler family. They have been joined by twin boys, a little girl, an adopted chocolate lab, two gerbils, and sibling cats. Naturally, at some point in this accumulation they no longer fit in their city apartment, so Mom and Dad Tyler moved the whole menagerie to an old house in the country and they now run a combination business that offers pet boarding, training, and a spa.

The latest excitement is caused by the news that a wizard and a real, live dragon are coming to stay and the pets respond according to their personalities with Leopold and Dash determined to protect the family. With the spying work of Fuzzy and Furry, who are skilled at escaping from their gerbiltorium, the animals discover that there's no wizard and the dragon is a komodo dragon, Miss KD, who is being cared for until she can travel to her new home at the zoo.

Humorous black and white pictures dot the book, although the drawing of Coco looks more like a setter than a chocolate lab. The gerbils are illustrated delightfully and the animals' personalities shine through in their depictions.

Verdict: There's a plethora of animal-themed chapter books, but the combination of humor and animal protagonists makes this a stand out title. Recommended for most library collections.

Revisited: Originally reviewed in 2016. I purchased this and the rest of the series, which concluded in 2018 with a total of 5 titles. It is still available in paperback, with some hardcovers and collections also available. If you are looking for additional animal-themed chapter books, this is still worth purchasing.

Revisited 2023: The paperbacks, and some other editions, are still in print. This remains perennially popular with its mix of animals, humor, and mystery.

ISBN: 9781481462235; Published 2016 by Aladdin/Simon and Schuster; Borrowed via inter-library loan

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