From the moment a little girl imagines plucking a pet from a box full of “free raptors” she is in love with the idea of the “teensy and tiny and funny and fluffy” creature. Cheerful and earnest, she knows just how she’ll take care of her new pet, whose mannerisms bear more than a little resemblance to a house cat. The little girl knows her raptor will love to sit on her lap and lay in the sun, and she knows as her pet grows she will need to teach her right from wrong, especially concerning shredding the furniture and hunting baby birds. But, she’s certain that having a raptor would be the “best thing ever.” O’Connor conveys the humorously striking similarities between cats and raptors through colorful, expressive illustrations of a pleasant blue raptor with feline habits and characteristics — full body stretches, closed-eye head butting, and early morning kneading — as well as the joys and trials of pet ownership as seen through the eyes of his pig-tailed and jumper-wearing heroine. (Ages 3–7)