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ZOO ZOOM! by Candace Ryan

ZOO ZOOM!

by Candace Ryan ; illustrated by Macky Pamintuan

Pub Date: Nov. 10th, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6196-3357-5
Publisher: Bloomsbury

A bevy of zoo animals takes off for the moon.

Endpapers show a group of animals rushing toward a rocket ship, and then the story follows them page by page as they blast off into space. The text is playful, if a bit forced, with a question-and-answer format that allows the illustrations to support textual responses to queries: “Puffin flies in. / Cockatoo, too. / Which gear to get here? / ZOO MOON! ZOO MOON!” typifies the pattern. The accompanying digital illustration shows the puffin and cockatoo at the rocket’s control board, but it also includes animals from the prior spreads, which creates a cumulative visual effect that continues throughout the book. It’s notable that the animals included aren’t all familiar ones—branching out from the common lions, elephants, giraffes, and so on, this book instead includes not just a puffin and a cockatoo, but a kiwi and a pronghorn among other exotic choices. The animals’ cooperative effort to reach the moon fails, alas, with worries of “ZOO DOOM!” and sightings of “ZOO FUMES!” The animals safely return to the space center to plan for and dream about the next time they can (try to) zoom to the moon.

An agreeable book to entice space enthusiasts as well as animal lovers.

(Picture book. 2-5)