Warning: Long and boring post under the cut.
I probably let my own feelings on this subject color my perceptions, but for a long time I've held that Karen's two families don't really teach her very well about all that goes into adopting a pet, leading to several pets that have to be rehomed for reasons that probably could have been foreseen. So tonight I pulled all of the LS books I could think of (that I own) that I could remember having new animals introduced into them. Then I made a list of how and why they got the pet, why it had to be rehomed (if it did; they kept a few), and who was the lucky new owner. So, the official verdict? I actually was surprised that there were really not that many that annoyed me, but the ones that did, really annoyed me.
#6, Karen’s Little Sister
Pet: Magic Tastee
Type: Sparrow
Acquired: Karen saves him in the yard after he has fallen from the nest
Given Up: Yes, he is a wild bird and needs freedom.
My thoughts: Birds are disgusting and usually have lice, and the thought of my kid handling a wild bird all the time grosses me out. Still, this wasn’t bad for a pet plot in a LS book, and it was made clear that wild birds don’t make good pets.
Pet: Emily Junior
Type: Rat
Acquired: Pet shop; Lisa and Seth have given permission for Karen to have her own pet within certain conditions.
Given Up: No, Karen has her through the rest of the series.
My thoughts: Rats are awesome, and not as nocturnal as, say, hamsters. A good pet choice, and all the things needed for her care were purchased at the time of her adoption. (See #83.)
#16, Karen’s Goldfish
Pet: Crystal Light, Goldfishie, Crystal Light the Second
Type: Goldfish
Acquired: Crystal Light, Goldfishie: Pet store; Watson and Elizabeth have given permission for Karen and Andrew to have their own pets at the big house. David Michael cares for them most of the time, at this point K and A still live with their mother most of the time. Crystal Light the Second: Gift from neighbor, who has a pond with goldfish. This pond is never mentioned again.
Given Up: Crystal Light dies, a large funeral is held for her with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The other two stay for the rest of the series.
My thoughts: Daddy was a bit unhappy when he learned that goldfish do better in a tank than in a bowl, but he still purchased all recommended supplies from the pet shop at the time of the original adoption, and Karen reads a book on taking care of fish. She doesn’t read it until after the fish are already home, but I suppose it’s as much as we can hope for. Overall a decent pet acquisition.
#26, Karen’s Ducklings
Pet: Feather and 7 ducklings
Type: Ducks
Acquired: Mama duck hatches her eggs outside the window to Karen’s classroom. The ducklings are named after the ducklings in Make Way For Ducklings, possibly just to piss me off.
Given Up: Wild animals, need freedom, are let go at Carnegie Lake under the supervision of some animal group. Also one of the ducklings dies and Karen blows it way out of proportion and forces everyone to have a funeral at school. “I cried every time she [Ms. Colman] said the name Jack.”
My thoughts: I almost left this one out because the ducks aren’t really pets, and all the grown-ups are aware of this, but for part of the book, Karen thinks the ducklings will be given to people as pets. I hated this book. It was (ahem) gigundoly boring.
#30, Karen’s Kittens
Pet: Growly and her five kittens
Type: Cats
Acquired: Growly, a stray, has kittens in Watson’s toolshed,
Given Up: Family doesn’t want more pets
My thoughts: This is one of the ones that first made me consider pets in LS books. First of all, Karen herself is put in charge of finding homes for the kittens, which all works out in the end. Along the way, a kitten is given to a classmate whose parents said she could have a pet, only to find out they didn’t mean a cat, and Nancy’s parents decide to give Nancy a kitten as her very first pet. Aww. As for Growly? Not only was she not rehomed, she wasn’t spayed, either, leading me to assume that unless Growly is hit by a car sometime soon, more litters of unwanted kittens will be roaming the streets of Stoneybrook. I hope there’s a determined seven-year old to find homes for each and every one, but somehow I doubt it. Call me a cynic.
#48, Karen’s Two Families
Pet: Bob
Type: Hermit Crab
Acquired: Pet store; Andrew was given permission from Seth and Lisa to get a pet of his very own.
Given Up: No, Andrew has him until the end of the series
My thoughts: It’s a pretty terrible idea to give a four-year old complete responsibility for a pet, but hermit crabs are fairly easy to take care of, and I assume that the grown-ups at Andrew’s respective houses make sure he’s cared for.
Pet: Puppies
Type: Dog
Acquired: The Kilbournes have bred Astrid to have a litter of puppies, and are selling them all for large sums of money
Given Up: Sold
My thoughts: Backyard breeders. “But she’s pedigreed!” isn’t a great reason to have a dog have several litters, and nothing in the series leads me to believe Astrid herself was a champion or anything. Just expensive puppies for no reason. Also, why is it that Karen and Maria (the 8-year old Kilbourne) are the ones who think of asking potential buyers basic questions about their living situations?
#59, Karen’s Leprechaun
Pet: Lucky
Type: Dog
Acquired: Turns up on their doorstep
Given up: Doesn’t get along with Rocky and Midgie; given to a man (the titular “leprechaun”) who is lonely
My thoughts: Lisa and Seth aren’t very good at introducing pets to each other, leading to wild chases around the kitchen. Having a dog show up for one book and be given to a character who never appears again reinforces animals as transitional.
#60, Karen’s Pony
Pet: Blueberry
Type: Pony
Acquired: Estate sale. Karen begs Watson to buy him so he won’t have to go to the pound. Watson buys the pony for Karen. Then Elizabeth buys one costume jewelry ring for all the kids to share. Can we say equality?
Given Up: Well, Blueberry never comes home with them, because that would be a bit over the top even for a LS book. Instead, he’s moved from the large farm where he is being boarded to a smaller, family run farm because Karen decides that he is sad and needs a friend to play with. I swear I am not making this up.
My thoughts: Karen is spoiled rotten. Also, Karen, Hannie, and Nancy are allowed to spend an entire afternoon unsupervised visiting her pony at the first farm. They run around and give themselves a tour. Two days later, Karen, Andrew, and David Michael play unsupervised with the pony while Nanny and Emily go inside to visit the Coopers. The next weekend, when Karen returns, she meets a nice young woman who shows her how to care for Blueberry. Great parenting, Watson, sitting inside eating pie while your shrieking banshee daughter and her two friends play with an extremely large animal.
#70, Karen’s Grandad
Pet: baby guinea pig
Type: guinea pig
Acquired: Karen’s class pet has babies, and each child with permission can put their name in a drawing for the babies. The baby is given as a gift to Granny.
Given Up: Granny doesn’t want it, so Karen gives it to a child who had permission but didn’t get chosen in the drawing.
My thoughts: Lisa should have stuck with her first instinct. “’I do not usually approve of giving pets as surprise gifts,’ said Mommy. ‘A pet is a responsibility. The person getting the pet needs to agree to take that responsibility on.’” A guinea pig just seems like an odd and random gift to give a woman who is grieving the loss of her husband…especially when the guinea pig lives in Connecticut, and the woman receiving him will need to transport him to Nebraska.
#72, Karen’s Puppy
Pet: Sadie
Type: Dog
Acquired: From a shelter, and it has to be a puppy so they can raise her themselves.
Given Up: Repeatedly, because she keeps doing puppy things and doesn’t get along with Rocky. It is terribly surprising that Rocky, who adapted sooooo well to Lucky (see #59), doesn’t get along with this puppy. She is first given to a large family but they give her back because with so many kids around she doesn’t listen to anyone and she threw up her lunch. I swear this is the stated reason. The second time she is given to the nice old couple who had cared for Midgie, who was lost and presumed dead for much of this book. They were initially reluctant, because a golden retriever puppy is much different than a small adult dog, but then change their minds for no readily apparent reason. I hope it worked out well for them.
My thoughts: Hated this book. Hated, hated, hated. They could have just as easily adopted an adult dog from the shelter. Not all dogs are given up for behavior problems. They likely could have found a nice, trained dog whose owner had to move, and if they’d gotten an adult dog, they might know if it was a dog who got along with cats or not. Seth insisted that he had to get a puppy, then took extra time off work to train the puppy, then got rid of the puppy when it continued to do puppy like things such as chew inappropriately and take longer than expected to be housebroken. Way to teach kids to give up, Seth. Thanks, you’re awesome.
#83, Karen’s Bunny
Pet: Princess and Spot
Type: Bunnies
Acquired: Granny gives them to the kids in their Easter baskets.
Given up: Given to Andrew’s preschool class
My thoughts: Granny should know better than to give bunnies without asking Lisa and Seth. Granny should know better than to give bunnies without any of the equipment needed to care for them. Lisa and Seth shouldn’t have expected Karen and Andrew to be completely responsible with their rabbits at all times, I mean, the things are living in laundry baskets for heaven’s sake, and Seth tells the kids he will be very angry if he finds that the rabbits have inappropriately chewed furniture again, and nobody ever teaches the kids how to hold the rabbits, and in one scene a neighbor is holding one by the scruff of its neck, and overall this book was just stupid in more ways that I can count. Also the rabbits are always hopping around the kids’ rooms, I can only imagine how much pee they got in their carpets, since just about every page mentions the rabbits peeing and pooping all over and Karen and Andrew being completely responsible for cleaning it all up and the whole thought grosses me out and I have to go wash my hands now.
#102, Karen’s Black Cat
Pet: Pumpkin
Type: Cat
Acquired: Watson and the big house family decide to get a cat, partially because Boo-Boo is getting old. The cat is indeed black, but Watson, who sucks at naming pets, names it Pumpkin like Karen suggested when she wanted an orange cat. Because he doesn’t favor her at all.
Given Up: No
My thoughts: Decent.
#115, Karen’s Runaway Turkey
Pet: Archie
Type: Turkey
Acquired: Karen’s class wins him in a contest. Karen takes him home while the class tries to find someone who can take him.
Given up: To Mrs. Stone, to live on her farm
My thoughts: Another one I almost didn’t include, because everyone knows it’s not really a pet, and the series had dissolved into complete unreality by this point, but I thought I’d be thorough.
Pet: Magic Tastee
Type: Sparrow
Acquired: Karen saves him in the yard after he has fallen from the nest
Given Up: Yes, he is a wild bird and needs freedom.
My thoughts: Birds are disgusting and usually have lice, and the thought of my kid handling a wild bird all the time grosses me out. Still, this wasn’t bad for a pet plot in a LS book, and it was made clear that wild birds don’t make good pets.
Pet: Emily Junior
Type: Rat
Acquired: Pet shop; Lisa and Seth have given permission for Karen to have her own pet within certain conditions.
Given Up: No, Karen has her through the rest of the series.
My thoughts: Rats are awesome, and not as nocturnal as, say, hamsters. A good pet choice, and all the things needed for her care were purchased at the time of her adoption. (See #83.)
#16, Karen’s Goldfish
Pet: Crystal Light, Goldfishie, Crystal Light the Second
Type: Goldfish
Acquired: Crystal Light, Goldfishie: Pet store; Watson and Elizabeth have given permission for Karen and Andrew to have their own pets at the big house. David Michael cares for them most of the time, at this point K and A still live with their mother most of the time. Crystal Light the Second: Gift from neighbor, who has a pond with goldfish. This pond is never mentioned again.
Given Up: Crystal Light dies, a large funeral is held for her with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The other two stay for the rest of the series.
My thoughts: Daddy was a bit unhappy when he learned that goldfish do better in a tank than in a bowl, but he still purchased all recommended supplies from the pet shop at the time of the original adoption, and Karen reads a book on taking care of fish. She doesn’t read it until after the fish are already home, but I suppose it’s as much as we can hope for. Overall a decent pet acquisition.
#26, Karen’s Ducklings
Pet: Feather and 7 ducklings
Type: Ducks
Acquired: Mama duck hatches her eggs outside the window to Karen’s classroom. The ducklings are named after the ducklings in Make Way For Ducklings, possibly just to piss me off.
Given Up: Wild animals, need freedom, are let go at Carnegie Lake under the supervision of some animal group. Also one of the ducklings dies and Karen blows it way out of proportion and forces everyone to have a funeral at school. “I cried every time she [Ms. Colman] said the name Jack.”
My thoughts: I almost left this one out because the ducks aren’t really pets, and all the grown-ups are aware of this, but for part of the book, Karen thinks the ducklings will be given to people as pets. I hated this book. It was (ahem) gigundoly boring.
#30, Karen’s Kittens
Pet: Growly and her five kittens
Type: Cats
Acquired: Growly, a stray, has kittens in Watson’s toolshed,
Given Up: Family doesn’t want more pets
My thoughts: This is one of the ones that first made me consider pets in LS books. First of all, Karen herself is put in charge of finding homes for the kittens, which all works out in the end. Along the way, a kitten is given to a classmate whose parents said she could have a pet, only to find out they didn’t mean a cat, and Nancy’s parents decide to give Nancy a kitten as her very first pet. Aww. As for Growly? Not only was she not rehomed, she wasn’t spayed, either, leading me to assume that unless Growly is hit by a car sometime soon, more litters of unwanted kittens will be roaming the streets of Stoneybrook. I hope there’s a determined seven-year old to find homes for each and every one, but somehow I doubt it. Call me a cynic.
#48, Karen’s Two Families
Pet: Bob
Type: Hermit Crab
Acquired: Pet store; Andrew was given permission from Seth and Lisa to get a pet of his very own.
Given Up: No, Andrew has him until the end of the series
My thoughts: It’s a pretty terrible idea to give a four-year old complete responsibility for a pet, but hermit crabs are fairly easy to take care of, and I assume that the grown-ups at Andrew’s respective houses make sure he’s cared for.
Pet: Puppies
Type: Dog
Acquired: The Kilbournes have bred Astrid to have a litter of puppies, and are selling them all for large sums of money
Given Up: Sold
My thoughts: Backyard breeders. “But she’s pedigreed!” isn’t a great reason to have a dog have several litters, and nothing in the series leads me to believe Astrid herself was a champion or anything. Just expensive puppies for no reason. Also, why is it that Karen and Maria (the 8-year old Kilbourne) are the ones who think of asking potential buyers basic questions about their living situations?
#59, Karen’s Leprechaun
Pet: Lucky
Type: Dog
Acquired: Turns up on their doorstep
Given up: Doesn’t get along with Rocky and Midgie; given to a man (the titular “leprechaun”) who is lonely
My thoughts: Lisa and Seth aren’t very good at introducing pets to each other, leading to wild chases around the kitchen. Having a dog show up for one book and be given to a character who never appears again reinforces animals as transitional.
#60, Karen’s Pony
Pet: Blueberry
Type: Pony
Acquired: Estate sale. Karen begs Watson to buy him so he won’t have to go to the pound. Watson buys the pony for Karen. Then Elizabeth buys one costume jewelry ring for all the kids to share. Can we say equality?
Given Up: Well, Blueberry never comes home with them, because that would be a bit over the top even for a LS book. Instead, he’s moved from the large farm where he is being boarded to a smaller, family run farm because Karen decides that he is sad and needs a friend to play with. I swear I am not making this up.
My thoughts: Karen is spoiled rotten. Also, Karen, Hannie, and Nancy are allowed to spend an entire afternoon unsupervised visiting her pony at the first farm. They run around and give themselves a tour. Two days later, Karen, Andrew, and David Michael play unsupervised with the pony while Nanny and Emily go inside to visit the Coopers. The next weekend, when Karen returns, she meets a nice young woman who shows her how to care for Blueberry. Great parenting, Watson, sitting inside eating pie while your shrieking banshee daughter and her two friends play with an extremely large animal.
#70, Karen’s Grandad
Pet: baby guinea pig
Type: guinea pig
Acquired: Karen’s class pet has babies, and each child with permission can put their name in a drawing for the babies. The baby is given as a gift to Granny.
Given Up: Granny doesn’t want it, so Karen gives it to a child who had permission but didn’t get chosen in the drawing.
My thoughts: Lisa should have stuck with her first instinct. “’I do not usually approve of giving pets as surprise gifts,’ said Mommy. ‘A pet is a responsibility. The person getting the pet needs to agree to take that responsibility on.’” A guinea pig just seems like an odd and random gift to give a woman who is grieving the loss of her husband…especially when the guinea pig lives in Connecticut, and the woman receiving him will need to transport him to Nebraska.
#72, Karen’s Puppy
Pet: Sadie
Type: Dog
Acquired: From a shelter, and it has to be a puppy so they can raise her themselves.
Given Up: Repeatedly, because she keeps doing puppy things and doesn’t get along with Rocky. It is terribly surprising that Rocky, who adapted sooooo well to Lucky (see #59), doesn’t get along with this puppy. She is first given to a large family but they give her back because with so many kids around she doesn’t listen to anyone and she threw up her lunch. I swear this is the stated reason. The second time she is given to the nice old couple who had cared for Midgie, who was lost and presumed dead for much of this book. They were initially reluctant, because a golden retriever puppy is much different than a small adult dog, but then change their minds for no readily apparent reason. I hope it worked out well for them.
My thoughts: Hated this book. Hated, hated, hated. They could have just as easily adopted an adult dog from the shelter. Not all dogs are given up for behavior problems. They likely could have found a nice, trained dog whose owner had to move, and if they’d gotten an adult dog, they might know if it was a dog who got along with cats or not. Seth insisted that he had to get a puppy, then took extra time off work to train the puppy, then got rid of the puppy when it continued to do puppy like things such as chew inappropriately and take longer than expected to be housebroken. Way to teach kids to give up, Seth. Thanks, you’re awesome.
#83, Karen’s Bunny
Pet: Princess and Spot
Type: Bunnies
Acquired: Granny gives them to the kids in their Easter baskets.
Given up: Given to Andrew’s preschool class
My thoughts: Granny should know better than to give bunnies without asking Lisa and Seth. Granny should know better than to give bunnies without any of the equipment needed to care for them. Lisa and Seth shouldn’t have expected Karen and Andrew to be completely responsible with their rabbits at all times, I mean, the things are living in laundry baskets for heaven’s sake, and Seth tells the kids he will be very angry if he finds that the rabbits have inappropriately chewed furniture again, and nobody ever teaches the kids how to hold the rabbits, and in one scene a neighbor is holding one by the scruff of its neck, and overall this book was just stupid in more ways that I can count. Also the rabbits are always hopping around the kids’ rooms, I can only imagine how much pee they got in their carpets, since just about every page mentions the rabbits peeing and pooping all over and Karen and Andrew being completely responsible for cleaning it all up and the whole thought grosses me out and I have to go wash my hands now.
#102, Karen’s Black Cat
Pet: Pumpkin
Type: Cat
Acquired: Watson and the big house family decide to get a cat, partially because Boo-Boo is getting old. The cat is indeed black, but Watson, who sucks at naming pets, names it Pumpkin like Karen suggested when she wanted an orange cat. Because he doesn’t favor her at all.
Given Up: No
My thoughts: Decent.
#115, Karen’s Runaway Turkey
Pet: Archie
Type: Turkey
Acquired: Karen’s class wins him in a contest. Karen takes him home while the class tries to find someone who can take him.
Given up: To Mrs. Stone, to live on her farm
My thoughts: Another one I almost didn’t include, because everyone knows it’s not really a pet, and the series had dissolved into complete unreality by this point, but I thought I’d be thorough.
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