By Gibbs Davis.  Illustrated by David A. Johnson.  ISBN 0-439-44373-3.  Copyright 2004.   Hardcover with 48 pages including bibliography and 15 colorful illustrations.  A 2004 Parent’s Choice Gold Award Winner.

Throughout the centuries, around four hundred pets have lived in the White House.  Some pets arrived with their presidents, a handful simply wandered onto the White House lawn and one even turned up in the mail!  The wildest, wackiest pets were often gifts from kings, queens, and foreign officials.  Although most pets remained to live with the president’s family, when even the White House’s 132 rooms couldn’t contain a restless elephant or a high-jumping wallaby, they were donated to Washington’s nearby zoo.

Even though our first president, George Washington, did not live in the White House, he too had many pets including a large French hound called Vulcan and a fox hound called Madame Moose.

Published by Scholastic Press.  Suitable for ages 8-11.