NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • STONEWALL BOOK AWARD WINNER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIMENAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by The New York Times • Time • Buzzfeed • NPR • New York Public Library • Publishers Weekly • School Library JournalA genre-defying novel from the award-winning author NPR describes as “like [Madeline] L’Engle…glorious.” A singular book that … “like [Madeline] L’Engle…glorious.” A singular book that explores themes of identity and justice. Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look?
There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption’s house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question–How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?
A riveting and timely young adult debut novel that asks difficult questions about what choices you can make when the society around you is in denial.
“[A] beautiful, genre-expanding debut” –The New York Times
“The word hype was invented to describe books like this.” –Refinery29
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I’m grateful to this book and its author for reminding me that the best fiction is capable of radical imagination. Pet singlehandedly, gracefully, and beautifully explores identity, gender, the tender bonds of family and friendship, and what it means to confront the darkness and trauma in our lives. This book challenged me to imagine a better future, for myself and for others.
This was such a sad good book. I just loved Pet and Jam. Redemption was an awesome character too. This story just pulls at your heart. I do recommend reading it.
This was a cute book. I enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this book. Great book for teens!
This was very surprising in the best way! Super real and hard hitting, and pulled on every heart string. Also pretty dark, which I was not expecting. Loved the characters and the world, definitely recommend!
This was such a great read. While it was dark and heavy at times, it did end on a note of hope.
The characters were all great. My heart was pulling for them.
The setting was in a futuristic utopia that wasn’t exactly a utopia. It was interesting to see how the society supposedly got rid of all the monsters from society.
Very enjoyable book and I would definitely recommend.
This book was fascinating. I thought the concept that all the bad in the world were monsters and that a town eradicated them was interesting. I really liked the diversity that was in the book and that it wasn’t a big deal. The diversity was just there. I adored Jam and Pet so much.
Akwaeke Emezi writes a poignant story with diverse characters but also an important message. The story gives a voice to those who have had their own monsters and how to find them in society. The friendship between the Jam and Redemption is a great model and goals for how to support and trust others. What an emotional story!
This book was really an experience. I amused myself while reading this, but I am not completely sure what to think about it. Don’t get me wrong, this book is far from bad, but I just think this book just wasn’t really for me.
I listened to the audiobook and I loved the atmosphere the narrator created with the character and the story: It was mysterious and strange, but most of all unique. Though I really enjoyed this, I had a hard time keeping track of the story, as sometimes there were so many layers to actively unravel to understand and follow the story, I just was lost sometimes. This story contains a lot of important messages and topics, and I think that in combination with the plot itself was a bit too much for me to follow when I read this.
Something I do really love about this book is that the main character prefers using sign-language over speaking vocally. She can talk, and she does sometimes, and she can hear, but she just feels more comfortable signing what she means. Even though there wasn’t an on-page explanation on the why, I really appreciate this on page representation of (selective) mutism. A lot of neurodivergent folks have experienced or experience it regularly and this book really told that not talking is not a bad thing and people around the person can easily adapt to communicate in other ways. I am very grateful for this representation.
Though I have a weird relationship with this book, as it goes both ways, I do recommend it as it’s so unique and addresses a lot of important topics wrapped in a semi-fantastical setting.
This was such a beautiful book.
I read ‘Pet’ two months ago and have been offering it as a book recommendation ever since. It is an older middle grade fantasy book which includes wonderful symbolism for how society handles real world evils.
Emezi’s writing style is easy to read in its everyday vernacular with poetic touches. It is within this style that the book is classified as middle grade; it is the subject matter that some readers demand the book should be young adult. I have voracious reader children. They are the kids who read with higher comprehension than suitable subject material and it is for this audience that ‘Pet’ was designed.
Frankly, I want all middle graders to read ‘Pet.’ Teens and adults, too. Here’s why:
Children are taught to view the world in black & white, where evil is easily defined and there’s a right way and a wrong way. But what happens when a child feels something is wrong, a gut instinct screaming that there is a vague evil, seeing red flags but unsure why? Adults teach that the child should reach out to an adult they trust. This is good advice to an extent. The problem is that many children will reach out once. If they are dismissed, they won’t necessarily speak up again.
I firmly believe ‘Pet’ is a book that could save a child from abuse. Emezi uses their subtle yet pointblank writing style to show that children that even loved children are hurt, that they should trust their instincts, that telling more than one adult might be necessary, that children ARE dismissed even when they are right but that they need to keep speaking up. I understand that many adults worry this subject material is not suitable for middle graders, but I argue that pretending child abuse doesn’t happen does NOT make it true. Emezi’s words are gentle enough to avoid being graphic and cruel to children while they describe the iffy signs of an abused victim. This book in the hands of an abused child or one that has a friend who is being abused potentially could save the child because it gives the tools to encourage advocating for themselves.
I will continue to recommend and gift ‘Pet’ to middle graders, teens, and adults. It’s a book that has deeper value than a wild fantasy story and I encourage people to add this to their Must Read book lists.
What an incredible story this was! I am on a binge of Nigerian-authored stories lately; there seems to be a lyricism to the storytelling style that permeates even though the individual authors’ writings are very different.
This is a marvelous story. I’ve seen some reviews comment on the audience, the simplicity, and the messaging. I don’t often pay attention to the “intended” audience; if I’m intrigued by a cover/blurb/author, I’ll read the book regardless of who it is meant for, unless I find myself getting lost (in a bad way) in that intent. I found this story to flow beautifully. There is a simplicity here, but it’s a deceptive one – the messages are huge and exceptionally timely and their straightforward presentation is a big part of what made them so powerful to me. This is a very thinly-veiled allegory for the modern world and I think the thinness of the veil is meant to emphasize, rather than minimize, that import.
I occasionally struggled with the shifting vernacular in this particular one – the narration is told in a western-type voice, whereas the dialogue uses expressions and syntax that are distinctly different and have the flow of West Africa in their veins. It can be jarring to shift back and forth in writing style like this; there were a few times in the beginning where it made the flow feel jumpy-bumpy and I’d have to work to maintain the feel of the story. After a little while though, the exceptional storytelling style carried the day and I fell into the rhythm and flow of the shifting voices and they felt completely organic by the end of the book.
Emezi is DEFINITELY on my To Be Watched list now. I have already requested Freshwater from my library. She is an epic talent and a voice to be reckoned with…
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy of this amazing story.