Dear Zoo

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell Dear Zoo is a board book telling of one mans quest to find the perfect pet! It has a simple and basic story with simple pages to match. The story goes that one man, who we never see, writes a letter to the zoo asking for them to send him a pet. The zoo sends him various animals and when you turn the pages you see different animals that come in all sorts of different cages. The cages are all made so you cannot see into them but you are able to open the cages, as the book is a lift the flap book. The zoo comes up with various ideas of pets for the man such as a lion, a camel, a monkey and even ...  Read the complete review

I try to read to my son as much as I can and we have a lot of different books ranging from Disney's classics to little red tractor going through Mr Men. "Dear zoo" was given to me by my health visitor in a bookstart pack for my son at his 2 years check-up. It is what I would call a book with cardboard pages and the cover has the body of a lion in a red transit crate with a tag stating "from the zoo" on it. It also has the title above the picture as well as the author, namely Rod Campbell underneath it. The back cover shows 6 animals in a crate with their heads sticking out. It also gives you a book summary and the publication details ...  Read the complete review

It's been a while since I wrote about a picture book. I shouldn't have left it so long. I suppose it's because Conor and Kieran are bigger now, and we don't read them so often. Sigh. Cue nostalgia. I love picture books, I think I'll have to find someone with a toddler that I can steal for an hour or two every once in a while so I've an excuse to keep reading them. Anyway, actually we did read one just last night, one of our favourites. Conor and Kieran should have been sleeping, it was late but it was a rather stuffy night and I could hear whispering from the stairs. "What's the matter? Why aren't you asleep?" ...  Read the complete review

Dear Zoo is a delightful childrens book and number two favourite in my sons list. It is written by Rod Campbell and now published by puffin, The first publication of this book was in 1982 so a book that has stood the test of times and obviously adored by children. A very simple and easy read and it's not long before your child will be joining in a reciting the sentence undeneath the flaps which are designed in various containers or doors you would expect to find these animals in but will you want to keep that animal or send him back? Doesn't matter if your child likes animals or not this is a good read and will leave your child smiling. Not ...  Read the complete review

- The book / The style and Format - First published in 1982, this book, aimed at pre-school children has stood the test of time and is still popular with that age group, 26 years later!! It is a lift-the-flap book which begins with: 'I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet. They sent me an.....' The adjacent page has a picture of a crate with 'very heavy' written on the front. It is only when the flap on the crate is pulled down that the reader can see the animal that the zoo has sent, in this instance, it is an elephant. 'He was too big! I sent him back.' 'So they sent me a .....' The adjacent page has a picture of ...  Read the complete review