This is a review of the 1982 (but a 2007 reprint) book "Dear Zoo" by Rod Campbell. It's a Children's book with differing 'lift the flap' actions within.

Setting the scene
The book is about a person (whom we never see) who wrote to the zoo to request a pet, the book then goes through a list of unsuitable pets sent in different packaging solutions which form the flap lifting action.

Contents
There are plenty of pages to read in this book, eight in total, each with a flap to reveal the animal sent from the zoo. We go from elephant (too big); Giraffe (too tall); Lion (too fierce); Camel (too grumpy); Snake (too scary) ; Monkey (too naughty) and a dog (perfect). You can guess which one the narrator keeps!

In use
My daughter loves this book and after a few readings was doing the flap lifting herself. As it was brand new the flaps started off a little stiff (as opposed to hanging by a thread from a second hand book!) and she enjoys us both reading this book.

Critique
If I had to critique the book I would say that you have to work out what the animals are yourself as it is not printed, well it is obvious from the picture so you can still say it out loud but it does feel like something is missing.

Plus points
The book is hardback with cardboard pages and flaps and really well made. It withstands boisterous reading and I can trust my daughter to look at it on her own too which I don't risk with thinner cardboard flap books. Each flap is different too so my daughter has to work out which way to open the crate or box containing the animal.

Price
We bought our book from Asda for £4 but you can buy from Amazon from £1.66. The RRP is £5.99. I think that the price is fair due to the quality of the book but there are probably a lot of copies around due to its popularity so you could find it in a charity shop if you look hard enough.

Makes sense?
As an adult I do like to silently consider the sense behind stories and nursery rhymes as we are reading. It helps to keep me sane when we are on the fifth reading in the same day of the same book! In this book the solution is a dog but a. would a zoo send me animals if I politely wrote to them? b. What would the postage be on some of the larger animals? c. would they accept returns if the reason was that I just didn't like the contents? and finally d. would a zoo have dogs to start off with? Ooh cynical!

Final word
This book is a hit in our household and is one we often choose to read again and again. Recommended read.