''What Pet Should I Get?'' is a

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ''One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish'' (stylized as ''One fish two fish red fish blue fish'') is a 1960 children's book by Dr. Seuss. As of 2001, over six million copies of the book had been sold, placing it 13th on a list of "All-Time Best ...

'' in their attempts to buy a pet.

Plot

In a pet store, a young brother and sister (Jay and Kay) are trying to choose a pet. They consider a vast array of possible pets as their deadline of noon approaches. Finally, they settle on a pet whose identity remains unrevealed.

Background

After Theodor Seuss Geisel, who wrote as

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' Audrey Geisel Audrey Grace Florine Stone (August 14, 1921 – December 19, 2018) was the second wife of American children's book author Dr. Seuss, Theodor Geisel ( Dr. Seuss), to whom she was married from 1968 until his death in 1991. She founded Dr. Seuss Ent ...

renovated their house in

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

. Geisel went through her husband's papers together with his assistant Claudia Prescott, donating most of his material to the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

. However, a few sketches and unfinished projects were collected in a box and left not donated. In October 2013, Geisel and Prescott examined the leftover sketches and projects closely for the first time; the materials included illustrations for alphabet flash cards, sketches collectively titled ''The Horse Museum'', a folder of miscellaneous drawings labeled "Noble Failures", and the most complete project, a manuscript titled ''The Pet Shop'' consisting of 16 illustrations and accompanying pieces of typed text. Cathy Goldsmith, a

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

associate publishing director who had been the art director for the previous six Dr. Seuss books and who is reportedly the last Random House executive to have worked directly with Seuss, examined the manuscript and judged it to date from between 1958 and 1962, in part because the brother and sister characters in the book are the same as in Seuss's 1960 book ''

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ''One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish'' (stylized as ''One fish two fish red fish blue fish'') is a 1960 children's book by Dr. Seuss. As of 2001, over six million copies of the book had been sold, placing it 13th on a list of "All-Time Best ...

''. It is possible that Seuss conceived ''The Pet Shop'' first but eventually decided to use the characters in a less narrative-structured book instead and developed ''One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish'' around them. ''The Pet Shop'' was reconstructed for publication by Goldsmith, who also colored the black-and-white illustrations. The reconstructed book was published by Random House in July 2015 as ''What Pet Should I Get?''. Random House reported it would likely publish two additional volumes based on the other material found in the same box. The release of the book '' Horse Museum'' was announced in a 2019

press release A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

Reception

In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Maria Russo gave ''What Pet Should I Get?'' a largely positive review, saying that "the book is, if not top-flight Seuss, a very good example of his particular genius for distilling both the spirit of his times and the timeless mind-set of children".

References

{{Dr. Seuss 2015 children's books Books by Dr. Seuss American picture books Books published posthumously Random House books