Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book
You'll have a basket of fun with this interactive lift-the-flap board book which will get your babies and toddlers joining right in. It starts, "I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet. They sent me an . . ." On the right hand page, there's a yellow box marked "VERY HEAVY!" Pull down on the little tab, and there's a big gray elephant in there. The text says, "He was too big! I sent him back." On each successive page is an unsuitable animal in a crate. The giraffe is too tall, the lion too fierce, the camel too grumpy, the snake too scary, the monkey too naughty, and the frog too jumpy. Little ones will pull open each flap, call out the name of the animal, and repeat the refrain. What is the perfect pet? A dog, of course. This is the 25th Anniversary edition of the book, originally published in 1982, though there's also a spiffy pop-up version available.
Themes : ANIMALS. TOYS.
CRITICS HAVE SAID
- It is interactive, amusing, and has a little surprise at the end. The simple, bright illustrations are set on sturdy white pages, and the shape of the crate and other hints in the picture will have kids quickly guessing which animal has arrived.
–Children
IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:
- Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Philomel, 2007, 1969.
- Deneux, Xavier. My Animals. Walker, 2008.
- De Regniers, Beatrice Schenk. May I Bring a Friend? Atheneum, 1964.
- Garland, Michael. Last Night at the Zoo. Boyds Mills, 2001.
- Gelman, Rita Golden. I Went to the Zoo. Scholastic, 1993.
- Hill, Eric. Where’s Spot. Putnam, 2005 (25th anniversary edition).
- Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. My Penguin, Osbert. Candlewick, 2004.
- Kunhardt, Dorothy. Pat the Bunny. Golden Books, 2001.
- Laden, Nina. Peek-a Who? Chronicle, 2000.
- Martin, Bill Jr. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Henry Holt, 2007, 1967.
- Paxton, Tom. Going to the Zoo. Morrow, 1996.
- Rathmann, Peggy. Good Night, Gorilla. Putnam, 1994.
- Reiser, Lynn. Any Kind of Dog. Greenwillow, 1992.
- Rex, Adam. Pssst! Harcourt, 2007.
- Rose, Deborah Lee. Birthday Zoo. Albert Whitman, 2002.
- Simont, Marc. The Stray Dog. HarperCollins, 2001.
- Wolf, Jake. Daddy, Could I Have an Elephant? Greenwillow, 1996.