Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap BookProduct Description
Dear Zoo is twenty-five years old -- and still as popular as ever! And with an updated look, this children's classic is sure to delight a new generation of readers!
Customer Reviews
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.
Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo
Tis the ultimate interactive story for the young `uns. An unseen narrator (who we assume must be a child of some sort) narrates a tale of unprecedented zooish generosity. After asking the zoo for a pet, a series of animals are sent in the hope that the child will want them. Unfortunately (and as the book makes clear) many of animals one finds at the zoo are inappropriate pets. Each animal that arrives is hidden beneath a flap. When you lift the flap the children to whom you are reading this tale are supposed to delightedly cry out the name of that particular animal. In this way, you can teach kids the kinds of animals that live at the zoo. For the narrator, though, elephants are too big, lions too fierce, monkeys to naughty, and frogs too jumpy. In the end, the narrator receives a small hamper with the note, "From all your friends at the zoo" containing the perfect pet.
As an early book, this story and its accompanying illustrations are very very simple. I was a little disappointed at the flimsiness of the flaps children are supposed to lift or turn. The copy I paged through had been scotch taped and re-scotch taped several times to keep the book in any kind of semblance of order. It is also a pity that the animals in this book aren't named ever. I don't doubt that kids will, mostly, be able to name them anyway, but it's nice to learn to read the names along with the pictures of the animals. Still, the book is satisfying to read. No subtext here. Nuh-uh. Just a very basic story about a zoo, some friendly animals, and the reasons (or lack there of) of keeping them. For another interesting and enjoyable zoo book, try "Good Night, Gorilla" by Peggy Rathmann (a personal pet favorite of mine).
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!
My Big Animal Book (My Big Board Books)Product Description
- Ideal for babies and toddlers.
- Stunning large format brings images to life.
- Helps to build a child's vocabulary.
Customer Reviews
A beautiful first animal photography book!!!
My son received this book for his first birthday and it has quickly become a favorite. He still chooses this book regularly at storytime and he is now 18 months old. Reasons to buy this book include...
- Great book for language development. The animals are sorted into groups including Baby Animals, Pets, On the Farm, Birds, and At the Zoo. A great book for playing "Where's the..." and "What's that?" pointing games.
- Clear, beautiful photos. Each animal photograph is also placed against a solid colored background so that the image really stands out.
- Unlike other animal photography books, the pages are not an animal collage with all the animals mixed in together. Each animal is shown in a square or rectangle with the name of the animals printed in lowercase underneath. Babies and Young toddlers are often confused by jumbled images and prefer the simplicity of how the animals are presented in this book.
- The book also has a rhyming, interactive text. For example on the zoo page it says, "I'm hard to see when I'm out in the snow. Who am I? (polar bear) I carry a trunk wherever I go. Who am I? (elephant). My toddler, like most, is highly attracted to rhyming text.
One of the best Animal books
I got this for my one year old twins, and they simply love it! They enjoy looking at the bright and colorful photographs of all the animals and this book enables me to make it a fun way of teaching them what different animals look like and the sounds they make. One of my twins always wails when I am finished and I close the book -- she simply wants to look at the book some more! I highly recommend this book for parents with young children.
An early favorite and a fantastic teaching resource
From the time my son first learned to talk, he has shown a fierce curiosity about what things are called as well as a total fascination with animals. I picked up Priddy's My Big Animal Book to help him identify various animals as well as to build his growing vocabulary, and it was a tremendous success on both levels.
The book features large, sturdy pages that catalog a variety of animals you'd find on a farm, in a zoo, or in people's houses. There is also a section on baby animals. The photos are large and colorful, and never fail to capture my son's attention. Between this book and My Big Truck Book (Priddy Bicknell Big Ideas for Little People), my son's vocabulary and understanding of the world around him increased by leaps and bounds. His first trip to the petting zoo and Zoo Atlanta were even more fascinating to him after seeing the pictures in this book. The day he saw real gorillas for the first time, he turned to me with a stunned look and shouted "Gayayas, Dada!" Thinking about that never fails to put a smile on my face! The book also allowed us to use his curiosity about animals to teach him about sizes, animal sounds, counting, and colors.
My son is two years old now and far more interested in storybooks, and the knowledge he gained from My Big Animal Book was a great help in transitioning him to books like Hug and Where's Spot?. He still takes this book off the shelf time after time just to look at the great photographs of his favorite animals.
I highly recommend this durable, colorful, and inexpensive book to all parents of curious toddlers. As teaching aids go, My Big Animal Book has proven far more effective than many a high-priced electronic gadget or DVD.
