I was looking for something fun for my nephew to have at my house in the book department. I thought an easy reader with animals and a ninja (if not real illustrations but bright cartoonish illustrations) would be fun. And perhaps the illustrations are fun to the young child or young at heart as he is. Sadly, the adult in me was very underwhelmed with Ninja at the Pet Shop.
Typical kid, gets into trouble but not using common sense. Then, yeah! It is all hunky dory at the end. Ah. No. Not for me anyway.
However, the story aside, I did like the level of it. The words felt good for the Level One reader. There is a lot of text for this level, but not necessarily overwhelming. For sure, if the child has assistance, there should not be any issues at all.
It is a series as well. There are at least four other titles. Therefore, if your child is a fan of the adventures (or actually the misadventures) of this heroic little ninja, you can continue reading on.
The illustrations are interesting. They are realistic (you know it is a python) but they have this very lighthearted feeling to them, making them cartoonish. I could see this on a modern-day cartoon network as a series. They are bright and fun. They are the perfect addition to the bouncy rhyming text.
Luke Flowers is also the illustrator to A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mister Rogers. Therefore, this style works for the whimsy of the text.
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