What will happen in the zoo when it closes out tonight?
Shall we go see, me and you, how animals grab a bite?
Tonight, don’t be a sleeper, never you mind the dangers.
Let’s follow the zookeeper as he fills all the mangers.
My Rating: 3 Stars!
This is a cute story for toddlers and elementary age children. The pictures are very nicely done and the colors bright and inviting! The pictures follow the story line well and are fun and interesting!
I do think that some of the wording could have been made clearer, however. A few of the rhymes and tongue twisters would probably be confusing to children. Some flow perfectly while others fall a bit short. This is a challenge for writers who create picture books. It is important to make the words understandable to a younger child while still flowing well with rhyme.
Over all, this is a cute book! If you have a child or grandchild that loves animals, they would probably get a kick out of this story!
Where you can find Dinner At The Zoo:
http://www.amazon.com/Dinner-At-Zoo-Mr-Baker-Hall/dp/191128505X/
Where you can find Mr. Baker-Hall:
1. What prompted you to write your books?
It was one very specific image that my daughter and I saw on the newspaper one day. It showed a group of people fearlessly helping a hippo walk back to the zoo in the flooded Georgian town of Tbilisi, in Eastern Europe. We talked about what the animals could have done to escape the zoo during the flood and then we went to bed. The whole story came up in my dreams, so the first thing I did that morning was sit down and write “The flood at the zoo”.
2. Do you have any works in progress?
Wonderful things keep happening in that zoo, so we never know when a new book may come out. For example, a few days ago, a vet went there to check all the animals. A few weeks ago, it snowed there. Spring is coming soon, and I wonder what it will bring…
3. Do you write in other genres? If so, which ones?
No, I only write children’s books. I may write some books for older children in the future, so they can continue following my work as they improve their reading skills. I’d love to foster their development.
4. What would you like your readers to know about you?
I was born in Never Never Land and used to be one of the Lost Boys until I eventually decided to grow up. I then moved to Whoville where I studied Literature with Cindy Lou Who. On school breaks, I used to travel to Wonderland where I was the official storyteller to the Queen of Hearts. When I almost had my head cut off after I did not end a story with "They lived happily ever after", I fled to London where I live now with my wife and daughter.
5. If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?
That everyone could always go back to that special time in their childhoods when their imagination had no boundaries, everything was possible and anything could happen. Unfortunately some people forget how to do that. Luckily, I still have some pixie dust that I can use to return to Never Never Land whenever I want.
6. If you could give me one piece of advice about life, what would it be?
To live life to the fullest and enjoy every step of the journey. If you give a plot to a group of writers with a fixed start and end, I assure you they will write completely different stories. The beginning and the end will be the same, but the adventure in between them will be unique. That’s just how we write our own lives. Life is not about the destination, but rather how you get there and the experiences you have on the way.