Oh Dear, Look What I Got!

I went to the shop to get me a carrot.
Oh dear! They gave me . . .
. . . a parrot.
Oh dear! Look what I got.
Do I want that? No, I do NOT!

As a hapless boy goes from shop to shop, requesting a series of perfectly reasonable items—a hat, a coat, a cake, a chair—he finds himself thwarted at every turn, amassing instead a growing menagerie of animals who happily follow him on his errands. It’s not until he finally asks for a cup that he’s proffered a wriggly creature that solves his dilemma . . . or does it? Adding delicious momentum to Michael Rosen’s rhymes (and mastery of the page turn) are an expressive crew of animal characters rendered as only Helen Oxenbury can, making for a timeless story guaranteed to beg many repeat readings. Oh dear!

Hardcover. Suggested ages 3-7.