Delightful touch-and-feel book to read to young children.
Next year will be the 40th anniversary of Dear Zoo by Scottish author Rod Campbell. It has certainly stood the test of time having been translated into at least 17 languages other than English and enjoyed by generations of young children and their parents. In the UK, there is even a live stage production.
The book is designed for reading to toddlers and pre-schoolers, with short, repetitive sentences describing the narrator’s wish for a pet, but the zoo keeps sending the wrong animal. The animals are not identified in the book so the child learns to recognise different animals and the associated problems of keeping them as pets. The elephant is too big, the lion too fierce and even the frog is not right with his sticky feet and jumping around everywhere.
The 2021 edition is a touch-and-feel board book, with each animal having some different textured skin, hair or even feet, which youngsters will enjoy feeling. The book’s popularity and longevity stem from the many ways children and parents can approach the book.
As the child reader/listener gets older there are many possibilities. For instance, each animal is sent in a crate or container which could stimulate discussions about taking animals from the wild and the purpose of zoos. Or perhaps, more generally, on the responsibilities of caring for a pet, when at the end of the book the zoo finally sends the perfect animal.
Reviewed by Jan Kershaw
Distributed by: Pan Macmillan Australia
Released: September 2021
RRP: $14.99
This review is the opinion of the reviewer and not Glam Adelaide.
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