“There are a lot of pet books around, but Lisa Shanahan’s originality brings this popular topic freshness in her latest picture book Big Pet Day. With an interesting and large cast of characters, Big Pet Day is indeed full of action and surprises. The reader is invited to explore what happens in Lily’s class on Pet Day. Lisa Shanahan makes it totally believable that a dragon could be a pet. Gus Gordon extends the fun of this story with his brilliant illustrations. He successfully creates an energetic and busy classroom environment. My five-year-old son enjoyed looking at the character’s reaction to the pets visiting the school, which resulted in very slow page turns. I personally liked the added touches, such as the dragon’s hat and the use of collage and vintage cutouts. With action packed text and humorous illustrations, Big Pet Day is a highly appealing picture book suited for 4 to 8 year olds.”

“A delightful story which will intrigue and engage younger readers. All the fun of being at school with your peers is shown, with a hint of some of the snide remarks made by one of the children. School is presented so clearly, the frazzled teacher having to use all of her skills to make the day successful for everyone, the principal strolling in at the end, unaware of the chaos that has reigned during the day, the little cameo sketches of the classmates: all is charming, heartwarming and very real. The wonderful illustrations by Gordon enhance the story, showing a group of kids having fun with their Pet Day. He has used a range of media to create his illustrations for the book, including line drawing, crayon, cut-outs and watercolour. All is engrossing as I loved looking at all the detail on each page, working out how each page was done, as I am sure younger readers will as well.”