The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter

 


Title: The Incredibly Dead Pets
Genre: Fiction/Mystery
Author: Aaron Reynolds
Major Awards: Texas Bluebonnet 
Grade Level: 3-7
Age: 8-12



Summary: Rex Dexter really wants a dog and has been itching for one. When Rex's B-Day for Me-Day finally arrives, his parents surprise him with a box. A box with holes. But he realizes that instead of receiving a dog, he got a pet. chicken for his birthday. One hour and fourteen minutes later, the chicken is dead (by a steamroller), Rex is cursed (by the Grim Reaper), and wild animals are haunting Rex's room (hounding him for answers). Rex's uninvited ghostly guests are a messy bunch and talk a lot. And they need Rex to solve their mysterious deadly departures from the Middling Falls Zoo before it happens again.



Evaluation: Although this a great choice for humor-seeking students in grades 3-7, I wouldn't recommend this as a read aloud if you want the students to learn the moral of the story. Some parts include the arrogance and narcissism of the main character, the total lack of respect for authority (parents and teachers), the mocking belittlement of that authority (the scene where he flushed the pillow down the toilet and blames the dad made me fume), and his rudeness and lack of interpersonal relationship skills when dealing with his friend (stealing his presentation and his total lack of being able to see things from his friends point of view and acting as though his friend was stupid). Now, if you wanted to teach students what NOT to do and how they should not act, then thus would be a good read aloud. Other than that, I feel like this would be more appropriate for middle grades and up.

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