Title Joey Series --- Author Jack Kent Illustrated By Jack Kent Publisher Prentice Hall - 1984 First Printing --- Category Children Warnings None Main Characters Joey, Billy, Betty, Bob Main Elements Anthropormorphic

Joey, a young kangaroo, is bored and lonely in his mother's pouch. So, mother helpfully suggests that he invite his friends over to play, and that's when the fun begins. Joey's friends appear, and begin dragging more and more toys into her pouch, as mother grows increasingly (and visibly) dismayed. But all ends well in a wacky and rollicking turnabout.

One of my friends had given this book to my younger sister for her birthday. I don't recall ever reading it until just recently. While the story is cute, I also found it vaguely disturbing, perhaps from an adults "realistic" point of view. As Joey's friends dump more and most stuff into his mother's pouch (like a TV or a drum set or a piano) her pouch just keeps on expanding, making me wince and get slightly grossed out. So while most kids will probably find it pretty funny, as an adult I found it downright icky.

Jack Kent has another books called There No Such Thing as a Dragon and I would suggest reading that one instead. There also seems to be a sequel to this one called Joey Runs Away which would probably be fine as well.