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!