My daughters and I found Sparky! at our town library. I have vague recollections of having heard of this book, but we have never read it. Sparky! is a picture book written by Jenny Offill and illustrated by Chris Appelhans.

As the story begins, our narrator is asking for a pet. Her mother says that she can only have a pet that “doesn’t need to be walked or bathed or fed.” Well, our narrator is clever, and after doing some research, she concludes that a sloth meets those restrictions.

The little girl is not sure what to make of her new sloth, who she names “Sparky”. She tries to play games with him, but Sparky is not very good at games. After Mary Potts, a classmate/frenemy tells the girl that her pets know tricks, the girl insists that Sparky knows tricks too. She decides to put on an Extravaganza featuring Sparky- can she teach Sparky to do amazing tricks in a week? Read more