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What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss Review: A Remarkable Posthumous Discovery for Young Readers

What Pet Should I Get? Is a posthumously published children's picture book by Dr. Seuss, originally written between 1958 and 1962 and reconstructed for publication by Random House in July 2015. The story follows Jay and Kay — the same sibling duo from the 1960 classic One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish — as they attempt to choose a single pet from an overwhelming pet store before a noon deadline. Cathy Goldsmith, the Random House art director who worked on the last six Dr. Seuss books during his lifetime, reconstructed the manuscript from black-and-white drawings and typed text fragments, and colored the illustrations for publication. Critics called it "a very good example of his particular genius for distilling both the spirit of his times and the timeless mind-set of children." The Guardian noted that it "slots effortlessly on to the shelf with the other volumes in the indispensable Seuss library" visually, while also observing that elements of the premise feel dated by contemporary standards. Designed for readers ages 3–6 and part of the Classic Seuss series, it is a genuinely rare artifact: a lost Seuss story recovered and brought to life for a new generation.

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Seuss devotees and parents of 3–6 year olds who want to share a genuinely recovered piece of literary history alongside a familiar sibling duo and a universally recognizable childhood dilemma.

Worth it if

You're drawn to the remarkable backstory of a lost manuscript reconstructed by the art director who knew Seuss's visual language intimately, and want a read-aloud that captures the breathless, funny logic of how children actually argue and choose.

Skip if

Readers who measure every posthumous Seuss release against the canonical peaks — critical coverage consistently places this below "top-flight Seuss," and those troubled by the dated "shopping for a pet" premise or the tonal friction of the publisher's shelter-adoption addendum may find the experience uneven.

What readers & critics say

The Guardian described the reconstructed book as "an almost spookily precise addition to the Seuss canon," noting it slots visually alongside the other volumes with near-seamless coherence, while also flagging the "shopping" premise as dated and the publisher's shelter-adoption framing as casting "rather a chill over Dr Seuss's anarchic spirit." Kirkus Reviews judged it "a far more satisfying experience than such other posthumous Seuss publications," though suggested it may ultimately be of more lasting interest to scholars than children.

“Recreated from black-and-white drawings and faded typed rhymes, the result is an almost spookily precise addition to the Seuss canon.”

— The Guardian

“A far more satisfying experience than such other posthumous Seuss publications — a tantalizing glimpse into the author's process.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“Shows Dr. Seuss's particular genius for distilling both the spirit of his times and the timeless mind-set of children.”

— nytimes.com

“More Seuss magic in a discovered manuscript — the same two siblings from One Fish, Two Fish face an overwhelming array of possible pets.”

— Common Sense Media
Sources: The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews
4.8from 6,754 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
In This Review
  • What Works & What Doesn't
  • What the Book Is and What It Contains
  • The Extraordinary Discovery Behind the Book
  • Its Place in the Seuss Canon
  • Genuine Strengths: Seussian Voice and the Joy of Indecision
  • Limitations and Contemporary Context

What Works & What Doesn't

What Works
  • A genuinely rare literary artifact — a lost Seuss manuscript recovered from the author's own papers and reconstructed by the art director who worked on his final six books
  • Reintroduces Jay and Kay, the beloved sibling duo from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, deepening their place in the Seuss universe
  • Central premise — the agony of choosing just one pet before a noon deadline — taps into a universally recognizable childhood experience
  • Reconstructed with close fidelity to the Seuss visual canon, with The Guardian noting it slots alongside the other volumes with near-seamless coherence
  • Praised by critical coverage as a strong example of Seuss's gift for capturing both the spirit of his era and the timeless logic of the child's mind
What Doesn't
  • The Guardian characterized the book's "shopping" premise as dated by contemporary standards, with the publisher's own shelter-adoption addendum creating tonal tension with Seuss's anarchic spirit
  • As a reconstructed posthumous manuscript rather than a work Seuss finalized for publication, it inevitably invites comparisons to the canonical titles —critical reception placed it below the author's top tier
A genuinely rare publishing event, What Pet Should I Get? is a recovered Dr. Seuss story that spent decades in a box before reaching young readers — and its origins are as fascinating as its contents.

What the Book Is and What It Contains

Interior spread showing children in yellow clothing discovering various animals, illustrating the decision-making process of choosing pets.
Interior spread showing children in yellow clothing discovering various animals, illustrating the decision-making process of choosing pets.
What Pet Should I Get? is a children's picture book, published posthumously and aimed at readers ages 3–6 as part of Random House's Classic Seuss series. The story centers on Jay and Kay, a young brother and sister who visit a pet store with instructions to choose one pet before noon. The pet store is packed with possibilities, and the two children spiral into the delightful, Seussian dilemma of indecision — cycling through fish, dogs, cats, and a parade of other creatures — before finally settling on a choice whose identity the book deliberately leaves unrevealed. According to Wikipedia's account, the book has been described as a dramatization of an important childhood lesson: learning how to "make up the mind that is up in my head." That tension between want and limit, choice and chaos, is the engine driving the slim, energetic narrative.

The Extraordinary Discovery Behind the Book

The backstory of this book's publication is, in many ways, as compelling as the story itself. After Theodor Seuss Geisel — who published as Dr. Seuss — died in 1991, his wife Audrey Geisel and his longtime assistant Claudia Prescott donated the majority of his papers to the University of California, San Diego. A small collection of unfinished materials was set aside in a box and left unexamined. It wasn't until October 2013 that Geisel and Prescott looked closely at those remaining items, which included alphabet flash card illustrations, a folder of miscellaneous drawings labeled "Noble Failures," and a folder of sketches titled The Horse Museum — plus the most complete project of all: a manuscript called The Pet Shop, comprising 16 illustrations and accompanying typed text. Cathy Goldsmith, a Random House associate publishing director who had served as art director on the last six Dr. Seuss books during his lifetime and is reportedly the last Random House executive to have worked directly with Seuss, examined the manuscript and dated it to between 1958 and 1962. She reconstructed the manuscript for publication and colored the original black-and-white illustrations. Random House published the result in July 2015 as What Pet Should I Get?
Interior spread showing children discovering a fish in water, with text about choosing it as a pet.
Interior spread showing children discovering a fish in water, with text about choosing it as a pet.

Its Place in the Seuss Canon

The book's connection to the wider Seuss universe runs deeper than its title. Goldsmith dated the manuscript in part because Jay and Kay are the same characters who appear in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, published in 1960. Wikipedia notes that Seuss may actually have conceived The Pet Shop first, later repurposing Jay and Kay for the less narrative-structured One Fish, Two Fish. The Guardian described the reconstructed book as "an almost spookily precise addition to the Seuss canon," observing that it sits alongside the other Seuss volumes with visual coherence — a product of Goldsmith's intimate familiarity with the aesthetic Seuss established with The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham in the late 1950s. The New York Times critic Maria Russo gave the book a largely positive assessment, writing — as Wikipedia's reception summary records — that it 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."

Genuine Strengths: Seussian Voice and the Joy of Indecision

The core appeal of the book is the universality of its central situation. The deadline-driven anxiety of choosing one pet from an abundance of irresistible options maps directly onto a kind of decision-making paralysis that children experience and recognize. The rhyming text, in Seuss's characteristic early-reader cadence, keeps the pacing lively and the vocabulary accessible to the book's target age group of 3–6. The Guardian captured the energy of the sibling dynamic: at one point, the little girl simply shouts "FISH FISH FISH FISH" — a moment that distills the breathless, funny logic of how children actually argue. The book is designed to be read aloud, and its rhythms serve that purpose. As part of the Beginner Books format within the Classic Seuss series, it is structured to support early independent reading as well.

Limitations and Contemporary Context

The Guardian's review raises a substantive critique worth noting: the premise of "shopping" for a pet — treating animals as a store shelf full of interchangeable choices — is a model that feels outmoded against contemporary attitudes toward pet adoption and animal welfare. The Guardian noted that the publisher addresses this directly by encouraging children to find pets at a shelter and to treat a pet as a "cherished, not captive, companion," but observed that this framing "casts rather a chill over Dr Seuss's anarchic spirit." The Guardian also described elements of the story as "dated and anxiety-inducing" for some readers. It is also worth acknowledging that as a reconstructed manuscript, the book is by nature incomplete in its original form — it arrived at publication through Goldsmith's reconstruction and colorization of fragmentary source materials rather than as a finished work Seuss himself authorized for release. For readers who hold the canonical Seuss titles as the benchmark, critical coverage' characterization of it as strong but "not top-flight Seuss" remains the most precise critical calibration the record supports.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. Cited in this review
  2. 1
    What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss | Hardcover Beginner Book – Dr. Seuss Official Store

    shop.drseuss.com

  3. 2
    What Pet Should I Get? - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org

  4. 3
    What Pet Should I Get? by Dr Seuss review – lost title fits easily into canon | Dr Seuss | The Guardian

    theguardian.com

  5. Further reading
  6. 4
    Dr. Seuss — author profileHigh-authority source

    Dr. Seuss, Wikipedia

  7. 5
    Random House What Pet Should I Get? - (Beginner Books) by Dr. Seuss (Hardcover) | Mission Valley

    mission-valley.com

  8. 6
    What Pet Should I Get? Book Review | Common Sense Media

    commonsensemedia.org

  9. 7
    What Pet Should I Get?: A Book Review | Here Wee Read

    hereweeread.com

  10. 8
    Review: 'What Pet Should I Get?' by Dr. Seuss

    chicagotribune.com

  11. 9
    What Pet Should I Get? - (Beginner Books) by Dr. Seuss (Hardcover) : Target

    target.com

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