Dear Zoo: Lift the Flaps

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And I have to mention the toys each zoo animal has in their cage … be sure to find those as well! [picture book, ages 1 and up] In some ways, 11-year-old Whit is like an animal at the zoo where his parents work. He is homeschooled here at the zoo and doesn’t leave the premises much. When he meets “Bird Girl” who comes each day to draw the birds, he finally has the chance to talk to someone his age.

Zoo is the story of a family’s trip to the Zoo. It is interesting to read about the family dynamics and I feel most children and adults can relate to the characters in the book. From the boys fighting, the Dad telling terrible jokes to the Mum being embarrassed by them all. As the story progresses you understand the underlying theme, which is actually about a role reversal with the people outside the cages being the animals. This is enforced by the use of pictures, with the children wearing monkey caps and also members of the public having animal features. A talented animal can do wondrous things with colors and circles and it thinks the zoo is the perfect place to live but the two children it befriends convince it that there is an even better place to aspire towards. [picture book, ages 2 and up]The people featured in the book are dressed in animal patterned clothing, having animal-like features or in some cases they are physically a bizarre mixture of human and actual animal whilst the animals themselves are drawn in an incredibly life-like and realistic way and Browne really shows off his mastery in his gorilla illustration. This book is an excellent example of the essential role pictures can play in a story as we can infer so much from them. I hope you enjoy reading Dear Zoo as much as we did, and if you have any suggestions for future books, please let me know in the comments below. Let’s share the love of reading and help our children to become bookworms for life. The book ends with the main character ‘Me’ saying, ��That night I had a strange dream. Do you think animals have dreams?’ This is a great question to start a discussion with the class and also it could be used in Literacy with the words being omitted from the story and the Children using the illustrations as inspiration for their own text for the story. Kids who love mysteries will really enjoy The Secret Zoo. Noah & Megan live next door to the zoo and are noticing the animals’ strange behaviors — then one day, Megan disappears! It’s up to her brother and friends to solve the clues that lead them into the zoo at night to see if they can find her.

Put Me in the Zoo was written and illustrated by Robert Lopshire. This fun book follows an animal named Spot who wants to live in the zoo. But when the zoo won’t let him stay, he shows two young kids all of the fun things that he can do with his spots. This silly rhyming story is accompanied by fun over-the-top illustrations that kids will love. Picture Books Curious George Goes To The Zoo was written by Cynthia Platt and illustrated by Mary O’Keefe Young. In this addition to the Curious George series, the popular and mischievous little monkey goes on a trip to the zoo. The funny story is full of silly moments, and the illustrations are done in the comforting and simple style of the original books. This very clever twist on “who’s watching who” will leaving kids laughing and wondering if they are the ones on display. Fun for kids ages 3 – 8 years.It would be good for guided reading from around years 3+ as it is interesting and has a good mix of words. These zoo books for kids — zoo picture book and chapter books — is inspired by the Newbery award winner, The One and Only Ivan. Is there a favorite zoo children’s book you’d like to add to the list? Please help me out and I’ll add it to the list. Thank you! She uses carefully rendered pencil drawings with what I think is monotype prints. The results are visually arresting. [Caldecott picture book, ages 2 and up]

As he hasn't ruled out one day becoming a zookeeper, Ben found the premise of this book intriguing; a kid writes a letter to the zoo and gets free stuff. Sounds great, right? After all, he's currently unemployed and can't very well buy his own things, let alone afford a pet. Also there's flaps and those always blow his mind. For the older set (kids who are reading chapter books), we’ve also got a few suggestions for great zoo mysteries!The colours along the journey are fairly bright, however, there is a consistent juxtaposition between the colours on the verso -which is where the humans are repeatedly situated- and the animals in captivity on the recto. The clothes that the humans are wearing contribute to the bright colours on the verso. Some of the clothes could be perceived as a representation of the way that humans mistreat animals for our benefit. For example, some characters are wearing leopard print coats and tiger printed trousers, suggesting that zoos are not the only way in which we unnecessarily maltreat animals. Zoo by Anthony Browne is a story about a family’s trip to the zoo with an underlying theme that becomes evident throughout the story as it progresses. A trip to the zoo is such a joyous occasion, isn’t it? Our urban zoo in Boston is a little sad, so we typically go to the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, about an hour away. This age range for this book is 8-12 with Children younger than 8 accessing the book via the great Illustrations and older Children being able to understand the real story. Older children can understand the theme from the text but younger children may need to be shown the pictures and maybe asked, ‘what is unusual about this picture?’