"Melvin and the Boy," released on July 5, 2011, is now available for purchase at your local bookstore or
online. Grab yourself a copy, curl up on the couch with your little one(s) and enjoy this timeless tale for years to come!
For Children Who Want Pets and Parents Who Don’t
By Pamela Paul
Published: July 6, 2011
"And you can add an eco-friendly flourish to the message! In “Melvin and the Boy,” the first book to be both written and illustrated by Lauren Castillo (who previously illustrated “What Happens on Wednesdays,” among others), a boy’s parents tell him he can’t get a dog, a monkey or a bird. But when the nameless boy (substitute your child’s name here) is captivated by a turtle in the park, he’s allowed to bring a pet home.
Alas, the turtle, which the boy names Melvin, seems unhappy in his new environs. This awakens an empathetic awareness in the child: “In the morning, I tell Mom and Dad that Melvin isn’t having much fun at our house,” he says, and then willingly releases Melvin back into the park, where he is probably better off, as endpapers describing the lives of turtles make clear.
Now, what to do with an unwanted pet pig?"
For the full article click
here.
More Reviews:
“Emotionally true and therefore highly satisfying.” --Kirkus Reviews
"With pared-down, rhythmic words and mixed-media illustrations filled with spot-on body language and details from an urban child’s world, Castillo elevates the familiar theme of a child’s unrequited yearning for a pet, adding a welcome twist when the boy, not the parents, is the first to recognize that Melvin belongs in the wild.” --Booklist
Bennett Studios 
