zoos

Review: The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents: Macbeth by Ian Lendler

| Tasha

stratford zoo macbeth

The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents: Macbeth by Ian Lendler, illustrated by Zack Giallongo

When the gates shut at night at The Stratford Zoo, the animals come out to play.  They steal the keys from one of the zoo keepers as they leave and all of the cages are unlocked.  Vendors walk the aisles selling treats like peanuts and earthworms to the growing crowd.  Then on stage, the theater begins with the lion as Macbeth.  After meeting with the witches, the question is whether Macbeth will eat the king.  Lady Macbeth proposes different preparations to make the king taste better, and Macbeth finally succumbs and eats the king.  But then, as with any Shakespearean tragedy, others must be eaten too.  This is a wild and wonderful combination of Shakespeare, hungers both human and animal, and plenty of humor.

Lendler takes great liberties with Shakespeare’s Macbeth.  He combines all of the moments that people remember in the play, from Lady Macbeth trying to wash out the spots of blood to the visits to the three witches and the way their predictions play out.  He also adds in lots of slapstick comedy, plenty of asides from the audience and actors, and also shortens the play substantially. 

Giallongo’s art is colorful and dramatic.  He plays up the drama of the ketchup stains, the growing stomach of the lion, and the ambitions of Lady Macbeth.  Comic moments are captured with plenty of humor visually.  This zoo is filled with fur, claws, fun and drama.

A perfect combination of Shakespeare and wild animal humor, this will please those who know Macbeth and people knew to the play alike.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copy received from First Second.

Review: I Know a Bear by Mariana Ruiz Johnson

| Tasha

i know a bear

I Know a Bear by Mariana Ruiz Johnson

A little girl gets to know a bear who comes from somewhere that he calls The Land of Bears.  Breakfasts there are sweet as honey, the land is vast, and the rivers are lovely for swimming.  Even the naps are better there, they go on for months.  But he can never return there, since he is in a zoo.  So the little girl has an idea, something that will let him feel a connection with the wilderness and something that she can set free.  It’s a powerful idea too.

Johnson tells this story in very short sentences, which one might think would be terse but instead feel slow and Zen-like.  It is a book about a girl who is forging her own connections with animals, making her own decisions too.  There are no adults in the story, just one little girl and one huge hairy bear.  It is a book about small choices making a big difference in the world.  It is simple and luminous.

Johnson’s illustrations have a wonderful light touch to them.  The pages with the huge bear can be dark and filled with fur, but then the book opens to a new page filled with white and lightness.  They are studies in contrast but also create a book that is a joy to read through with changes of feel from one page to the next.

An empowering story about one little girl and her connection with one big bear and the beauty of freedom.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley received from Edelweiss and Schwartz & Wade.

Review: A Mom for Umande by Maria Faulconer

| Tasha

mom for umande

A Mom for Umande by Maria Faulconer, illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung

Based on a true story, this picture book tells of how a baby gorilla found a mother of his own.  When Umande was born, his mother didn’t know how to care for him.  So the keepers of the zoo had to step in and help, taking care of his infant needs and later showing him to to play and eat as a young gorilla.  After he was 8 months old, the zoo moved Umande to a different zoo across the country where Lulu, an experienced gorilla mother was waiting for him.  They were slowly introduced to one another, but soon enough they were a pair.  Umande had found his mother!

This story of a baby gorilla makes a wonderful picture book.  Faulconer uses just enough detail about the zoo staff and the efforts they took to raise baby Umande to make it fascinating.  She keeps the pace brisk and the story moving forward, making it just the right length for young readers to enjoy.  The text also reads aloud well, and this would be a nice addition to story times about mothers.

Hartung’s art captures the charm of gorillas on the page.  Even though Umande’s real mother didn’t know how to care for him, the art is carefully done to show that the gorillas are more baffled than mean or careless.  The cautious approach of the new mother gorilla and Umande as they are introduced is portrayed in a touching way on the page as is the final connection of the two gorillas.

This book is sure to speak to adoptive families as well as fans of gorillas and zoos.  It is a great pick for story times on any of these subjects.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial.

Review: Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder

| Tasha

fraidyzoo

Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder

It’s the perfect day to go to the zoo and the whole family is excited.  Well, maybe not the whole family.  Little T certainly is not, in fact she is frightened of the zoo.  But she can’t remember what in the zoo scares her.  So her family set out to find out what might be scaring her.  They start out at the beginning of the alphabet and acting out the animals.  It’s not alligator, bat or camel.  As they go on, the costumes they use become more and more elaborate and they all help act them out with plenty of laughter and silliness.  They make it all the way to zebras and still Little T can’t remember why she is scared of the zoo.  So they decide to go the next day.  But there is something very frightening at the zoo, and her older sister might just find it a little too scary.

Heder does a superb job here of creating costumes out of boxes and ropes that look like they just might work in real life.  As the costumes grow more and more outrageous and complex, they also get more beautiful.  Along the way, Heder does not name any of the animals being portrayed, so the book has a guessing-game element to it as well.  The ending is funny and satisfying.

Heder’s art really is the majority of the story here.  The text is almost secondary to the full-page images that gallop and dash across the page.  They are filled with motion, color and smiles.  This is art that will inspire children to play with boxes and rope.  Expect your living room to be strewn with cardboard and ideas.

Creative and a joy to read, this is much more fun than any visit I’ve had to the zoo.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Review: A Moose That Says Moo by Jennifer Hamburg

| Tasha

moose that says moo

A Moose That Says Moo! by Jennifer Hamburg, illustrated by Sue Truesdell

Sitting near the laundry drying on the line, a little girl is reading books about animals.  She starts to think about having a zoo of her very own and what sorts of animals it would have.  It’s guaranteed that no other zoo has animals like hers!  There is a moose that says “moo,” bears that drive cars, tigers that swing in the trees, and sharks that read books.  At night, the animals have a big pillow fight that turns into one silly brawl with awakened goats, tap-dancing pigs that startle easily, tripping turtles, and even groundhogs that protest.  It will take one smart young girl to get everything put back together again even in this imaginary zoo.

Written in a rollicking rhyme, this book really celebrates the ridiculous and the silly.  Hamburg manages to create zoo animals with wild qualities that make the book a surprise on each page.  The result is a book that dances on the edge of losing control, but the firm hand Hamburg takes with the rhyme and rhythm keeps it within control and makes for a book that begs to be shared aloud.

Truesdell does an amazing job of managing to take all of the wild chaotic silliness of the book and turn it into illustrations that help it all make sense.  At the same time, she too revels in the silliness on the page and adds to it with small touches like a reading shark accidentally eating a book, the offer of many tissues to a sneezing tiger, and goggled bears in cars. 

Pure silliness, this book could merrily be wedged into many storytime themes.  Use it as a finisher since even antsy children will sit still for this wild ride.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Review: Xander’s Panda Party by Linda Sue Park

| Tasha

xanders panda party

Xander’s Panda Party by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Matt Phelan

Xander is planning a party just for pandas, but soon realizes that he is the only panda at the zoo.  So he changes the invitation to include all sorts of the bears at the zoo.  Then Koala is left out because she’s a marsupial, not a bear.  Xander chewed some bamboo and thought a bit, then changed the party to be for all mammals at the zoo.  After going through several more versions, Xander’s party changed to invite all of the animals at the zoo.  It was almost time for the party to start, when a truck and a crate arrived at the zoo.  It was a new creature for the zoo!  But would it ruin Xander’s updated party plans?

Clever, clever, clever.  This book carefully offers information on animal taxonomy to readers who will not even realize they are learning it thanks to the party-theme of the book.  Park’s writing is so impressive.  When I opened the book to see it rhyme, I must admit that I sighed.  But Park managed to created a rhyming book that is not written in stanzas.  She instead builds whole paragraphs that read like rhyming poems and make the rhymes work throughout the sentences.  It is a smart way to approach a book that harnesses the rhyme rather than galloping away with it.

Phelan’s art is entirely brilliant.  His lines have a looseness that really works, creating whole settings in just a few lines.  All of the animals have their own unique personalities.  I particularly enjoyed the rhino glaring from behind his wall and the montage of the different types of bears.  There are small touches throughout that add humor and coziness to the story.

A book that has science mixed with a message of inclusiveness, this is one has mass appeal.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

| Tasha

one and only ivan

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Ivan is the gorilla that is part of the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade.  The big billboard outside the mall shows Ivan as a ferocious beast, but he’s really a very easygoing guy.  He doesn’t remember anything about his life before he came to live with humans.  He was raised in Mack’s house as long as he was little and cute, but when he got bigger he was put into his domain: a glassed-in room.  He watches TV, lots of Westerns, and hangs out with his friends: an old elephant named Stella and a stray dog named Bob.  He also does art, scribbles that Mack sells in the mall gift shop.  Things change at the circus as money gets tighter until Mack purchases a baby elephant for the Big Top.  Ruby has been taken from her family and is full of lots of questions.  She makes Ivan look at his small, enclosed world more closely and inspires him to make promises that he will probably never be able to keep. 

I read this book in one long gulp, unable to get Ivan and his tiny, limited world out of my head.  The book is written from Ivan’s point of view, one that is distinctly gorilla and wonderfully familiar and foreign at the same time.  Applegate manages to give us a taste of being animal while never imbuing Ivan with human sensibilities, yet he is entirely relatable for readers.

The use of art to bridge the language gap between humans and gorillas is equally effective.  Ivan’s ruminations about art and how to capture taste and feel on paper is lovely.  Ivan’s world may be small and enclosed, but through art and his relationships with others, it grows larger and larger. 

This is a book that captivates.  It is compelling readers, bubbling with humor, yet addresses issues that are deep and complex.  It is a book that is memorable, rich and simply marvelous.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott

| Tasha

zoo girl

Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott (Link to InfoSoup)

Told in just a few words per page, this book tells the story of a little girl who doesn’t have a family.  At the orphanage she is lonely and has no friends.  Then the children visit the zoo and suddenly the little girl feels at home.  She is left behind at the zoo and the animals discover her.  They befriend her and she lives with them for awhile until the zookeepers discover her curled up with the tigers.  The little girl does not want to go, and the book ends with a happy ending where the little girl is adopted by the zookeeper couple.  The story is a simple one, told in only a few words, but the sense of belonging and being wanted remains a powerful message.

Elliott’s story is really told in the illustrations rather than the words.  Her art is a rich mix of texture, patterns, drawing and photographs.  The rather simply drawn characters and animals live in a world made dazzling.  Even the air itself seems to have its own feeling and shape.  The elephant has wonderful wrinkles, the tiger has plush fur, and the penguin’s feathers are swirled. 

Also, in the orphanage, the mood is not grim.  It is specifically this little girl who does not have friends and feels alone.  The other children are merry and playing with one another.  That changes the message quite a bit too.

Perfect for toddlers because of its brevity, this book is a very friendly way to talk about adoption.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: What’s New at the Zoo? by Betty Comden

| Tasha

whats new at the zoo

What’s New at the Zoo? by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, illustrated by Travis Foster

This funny book about an overcrowded zoo contains words that are lyrics from the Broadway Show, Do Re Mi.  The zoo is so crowded that the animals are stepping on one another.  The kangaroo’s pouch is stepped on by a bear.  The moose’s snout is stepped on by a goose.  All of the animals demand to be let out of the zoo.  So when the zookeeper arrives at the door, he is stampeded by all of the animals in their rush to escape.  The book combines humor and rhythm into one very appealing read.

Comden and Green had a way with words and rhythm.  I only wish I could have heard the music for the book and kept checking to see if there was a CD that I had missed.  The writing is humorous, offering plenty of laughs for young readers.

Much of the humor is also visual in the illustrations by Foster.  His art adds an appealing cartoonish, slapstick humor to the read.  Children will love the expressions on the faces of the animals as they are trod upon.  There are also several large flaps to lift that add even more fun.

This one is a treat to read aloud, the rhymes and rhythms flow beautifully.  Children will love the animals, the jokes and all of the zany fun.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.