Picture Books for Your Veterinarian Dramatic Play Unit

Hi! Today I wanted to share some of my favorite books for your home or classroom library about being a vet. I recently shared my new Vet Dramatic Play Center. This is the perfect addition to your home learning or classroom. Your students will learn about empathy and compassion while caring for their favorite stuffed animals. Like most of my posts, I’ve written them for a classroom teacher. However, they are easily applicable to your homeschool lessons!

One of the best things we can do to extend the learning of play is to add quality books to our space. Many of these books are great for a read aloud, but they are also ideal to keep out for students to browse through and reference during their play. We can use these books to model play, share nonfiction text features, and use books to find the answers to our questions. I recommend reading one book a day while you have your Vet Center set up, and keep the books out for students to reference the entire time.

You can find all of these books in my Amazon storefront, or read more about them below. I found each of these books on Amazon, but many of them should be available at your local public library! The following links are affiliate links, so I receive a small stipend when you purchase through my link. It’s at no cost to you, and I use those funds to keep my blog running!

Peppa’s First Pet

Peppa’s goldfish, Goldie, isn’t eating so she, George, and Mum hop on the bus to take her to the vet. This isn’t the most informative book, but it’s an easy read and has a very clear plot. My daughter and I have actually been pretty pleased with the Diwali, Lunar New Year and Hanukkah Peppa Pig books as well. This won’t be winning any literary awards, but it’s a nice addition to your vet unit!

Community Helpers: Veterinarians

This is from a set of Community Helpers books, and it’s a great nonfiction text. It includes diagrams, a glossary, and a table of contents so it’s a great informational text to keep in your vet center! I love the real photographs as well, and your students will love to re-enact the photos from the book while they pretend to be a veterinarian. I love that it shows vets working at a zoo, aquarium, and with pets. It also introduces important vocabulary words like foal, monitor, and exam table. You can see this book on Youtube here.

A Day in the Life of a Veterinarian by Heather Adamson

This book has a very cool format, because each page has a frequently asked question about a vet and answers it in a concise, helpful way. The photos show vets performing lots of different procedures, including shots, wrapping a wound, and grooming. My favorite thing about this book is it introduces veterinarian assistants and techs. This provides a model for students to play together, and also shows the importance of other workers at the clinic. You can see this book on Youtube.

Oscar and Emmy Visit the Vet by Terri Sabol

Oscar and Emmy are two sweet kitties who are going to the vet for a regular check up. I love that this book focuses on daily care of our pets, so it’s less “heavy” than a book about being our pets sick or injured. This book is great for any pet lover, and it has lots of tips for being a responsible pet owner. This book is a great choice when discussing using empathy and compassion with our pets. I absolutely love the line: “Oscar, I know you’re scared around dogs, but I’ll keep you safe.” Oscar and Abby are so kind to their cats, and are constantly trying to comfort them. This book takes readers through a typical vet exam including being weighed, asking the owner questions, and grooming, and performing a thorough exam. If your students don’t have background knowledge about going to the vet, this is an excellent read aloud to support them.

Lisette The Vet by Ruth MacPete, DVM

I love that this book was written by an actual vet! This is a sweet story about Lisette, and all the animals she keeps in her home. This is another great book to add to your unit while working on reading comprehension skills, because it is a great story with a clear problem and solution.

I Want To Be a Veterinarian by Laura Driscoll

This is the only book I could find with a main character of color. I was so disappointed in that, and if I could only choose one book, I would choose this one. This series typically does a good job of showing diverse characters, and many of the vets are women or people of color. This is an easy “reader,” so it’s designed to be read by young learners independently. IT uses lots of picture support, short phrases, and most of the words are easily decodable.

The main character takes Gus, his puppy, to see the vet, Dr. Wells. Then he decides he’d like to be a vet too! He meets a vet that works at the barn, and an aquatic vet on a field trip, a vet at a national park, and even a dairy cow vet. While this book doesn’t show a thorough vet exam, I love that it explores the different types of vets.

Veterinarians Help

I am always a fan of Pebble books, and this book is no exception! They are quick, full of great photographs, and typically include lots of nonfiction text features. They also have an excellent website with resources for teachers and parents of young learners.

Sally Goes to the Vet by Stephen Huneck

Sally is a sweet black lab who has to go the vet after she gets hurt in her yard. I love that it is from Sally’s perspective, because it will help students make connections to their own experiences. Sally frequently asks, “Will it hurt,” every time the vet does a procedure. This book is very quick, so it’s great for young learners. On it’s own, it’s not super thorough, so it doesn’t teach alot about what happens at an animal clinic. However, it’s a sweet story, and if you’re looking to add more fiction stories to your unit, it’s a nice choice. For some reason this book is super pricy on Amazon right now, but you can see it read aloud on Youtube here.

Caring For Your Pets by Ann Owen

This book is a great introduction to going to the vet. It simply explains what a child should expect when they take their pet to the vet, so it’s excellent for growing background knowledge. It is not my favorite, and I wouldn’t suggest this book if you’re only getting a few. But if you’re looking to add books that your students will enjoy reading on their own, this is a great choice. Each page has just a few sentences and the picture are clear enough that they can “read the pictures” on their own.

PBS Kids: Ask a Veterinarian

This book also uses a question and answer format! I love using this book as a mentor text for writing. Your students can create their own nonfiction book after your vet unit, and it’s a great way to add academic skills and standards to their play.

Let’s Meet at Veterinarian by Gina Bellisario

This book tells a story of a class who brings a vet in for a question and answer session. Dr. Kate answers their questions, and shows how to examine her pet guinea pig. Each page has a cutout with information about being a vet. I like that this book discusses going to college to be a vet, and taking a Veterinarian’s Oath. This book is actually pretty informative, even discussing things like a lizard’s broken tail, and a dog getting fleas.

Biscuit Visits the Doctor by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Biscuit is a staple in most classroom libraries, and this book is a cute addition! Biscuit needs to go in for his check up, so his owner takes him to see Dr. Green. Students will see lots of other animals that visit the vet, and watch as Dr. Green does a simple exam. As always, Biscuit gets into mischief and finds a litter of sweet kittens. This would be a great conversation about, “Why do you think the kittens are at the vet,” and “Do you think a vet does the same thing for baby animals and grown animals?” This book would be great for sequencing. It doesn’t have a super clear problem and solution, BUT there are very clear events that would be great for practicing putting the story in order. This is an easy way to add standards to your teaching. For example, you might read the story aloud to your class them have them draw and write about the story events. When they finish, they can move to the vet clinic for some pretend play.

Did I miss any titles? What books should I add? I’d love to hear your favorites!