Jun 222013
Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book
Dear Zoo is twenty-five years old — and still as popular as ever! And with an updated look, this classic children’s storybook about a youngster loooking for a perfect pet is sure to delight a new generation of readers!
List Price: $ 6.99
Price: $ 3.43
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A great first book,
My daughter has loved this book from the very beginning. She was fascinated by the animals revealed when I lifted the flaps, and then had a great time learning how to lift the flaps herself as she grew older. She’s a year old now and brings it to me to read to her more than any other book that we have. She gets a kick out of the animal sounds we make when we lift the flaps, too. It’s the only lift-the-flap book we have that she hasn’t managed to tear off any flaps. I think this book has been instrumental in showing her how much fun books can be – I highly recommend it.
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|A So-So Book – a review of “Dear Zoo”,
This book is okay. Others raved about it but my three year old son found it boring. The reason I think is that he *wasn’t* introduced to this book as a baby or toddler. First books generally tend to remain favorites, so my advice would be not to buy this for a Preschooler. A baby or young toddler would probably like it fine.
Pros
– Pretty sturdy flaps that open from different sides. This feature helps young children exercise both their memory and fine motor skills (little fingers)
– 17 pages including the title page. I know the description says 24, but they must be counting blank pages and the covers pages.
– Interesting subject for babies and toddlers.
– Text is repetitive and helps with baby and toddler memory and prediction.
Cons
– For Preschoolers content is boring. The eight animals chosen are ‘old hat’ by the time most children hit the 2 to 3 range. Animals are: Elephant, giraffe, lion, camel, snake, monkey, frog, dog.
– There is no rhyme in the text. Rhyme is one way to teach young children about how words work in similar ways.
–Text generally (after the first page) runs along the lines of “So they sent me a …” to which the answer is something like “He was too ___ ! I sent him back.” [The animal that was kept was a puppy.]
Three Stars. Average book in a large field of similar products. “Dear Zoo” seems sturdy (we borrowed ours from the library and one would assume it has seen lots of use) and the drawings are so simple that babies won’t have a problem focusing on the subject animal.
Take a look at Amazon’s “Search inside this book” feature for an example of text and artwork (“Surprise Me”).
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|A favorite with my two year old,
This is a great early book. The zoo sends various animals as a pet but they are all unsuitable for some reason (the giraffe is too tall, the monkey is too naughty etc). Finally they send the perfect present: a puppy! The language is simple (in fact, this book was recommended to me by a speech pathologist) and the humor is perfect for the 2-4 age group. My son loves lifting up the flaps and making noises for all the different animals hidden below. The flaps are also cleverly illustrated so that enough of the animal is visible to allow the child to guess which one is being sent. I must have read it to my son more than 100 times but neither of us are tired of it yet!
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