Rainbow Street pets by Wendy Orr

Allen and Unwin, 2012. ISBN 978-174237-908-1.
(Age 8-11) Recommended. Pet stories are very popular with children and this is an excellent collection of six stories in one book.
Each chapter features an animal and tells how they became involved in the Rainbow Street Animal Shelter. The stories vary from a lost dog, an unwanted lion cub and a stolen horse. Of course they are not only stories of the animals but of the people who are involved with them, the separated owners, the animal shelter workers and the eventual new homes the animals find.
Children who want a pet of their own will identify with the longing of the children in this novel, but Wendy Orr demonstrates that although a pet brings love and companionship there are responsibilities as well, such as grooming, cleaning, exercising and training.
These heart warming stories often connect to each other, with characters appearing in more than one chapter. Each story has a happy ending and there is an obvious concern for the welfare of the animals.  Photographs of the animals feature inside the book in black and white as well as in colour on the bright and appealing front cover.
This is a fairly large novel for its intended reader with over 350 pages but as the book is broken up into the individual stories I feel it is not overwhelming and children will want to read every animal's story and even reread it again!
Recommended for children, 8 to 11 years.
Jane Moore