One of my favorite types of books for children are books that use animals as the main characters. This type of book usually will hold young children’s attention very well.

The book Never, EVER Shout in a Zoo is a wonderful book about animals that has an ironic and laughable ending.


The Story

This cute story starts with a nameless little girl who dropped the ice cream off of her ice cream cone.

Never, EVER shout in a zoo….
Because if you do…
Anything might happen.
And don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The story goes on to show the many animals that escape from their cages because of that one shout and dilemma the zookeeper and the zoo visitor’s are in as a result of the animals running free.

The ironic ending adds to the charm and fun of this book.....nope I won’t give away the ending, you’ll have to read it to a child yourself to find out.


The Illustrations

The beautiful illustrations in this book were done in watercolor and color pencil. They are large and interesting and full of detail that holds the reader/listeners eye. The little girl is so expressive and adds interest to each of the pages.

The animals are drawn to look like what they are, but with a bit of a cartoonish look so as to add expression and more interest to each one.

The background on each of the pages is white and the animals cover a good portion with their browns, grays and white and pink too. Each page adds another animal so that by the end of the book there are lots of animals to fill the page.

The text is a medium large font and is easy to hold up and read to a group or to read to child that is sitting on your lap.


My Feelings

This book is so much fun to read to children. Of course animals are always a hit with them and this book has so many to name and to imitate the sounds of. We had fun pretending to be elephants and roaring like a lion.

The daycare children all agreed that the gorilla holding the zookeeper upside down to get his keys was one of their favorite parts. They all laughed and laughed at the ending. It wasn’t what they expected, which is a great way to end a children’s book (or any book) in my eyes.

We spent some time talking about zoo’s and the animals that are there and also how they think those animals feel. That is one reason I was particularly fond of the ending of this book. It gave them something to think about.

I love that there was a repetitive line for the children to repeat as I read. I think this helps them to pay attention, encourages them to really participate in the book and is a wonderful way to introduce reading, as well.

They are asking for this book everyday so I know that it is one that they enjoy very much. I would recommend this book for parents or caregivers to read to their toddlers/preschoolers.


Nuts & Bolts

Never, EVER Shout in a Zoo was written by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Doug Cushman.

Little, Brown and Company published this 32 page hardcover book in 2004.

The jacket price on this book is $15.95 US and $23.95 CAN

This book is recommended for 3 – 6 year olds.

ISBN: 0-316-98564-3


Recommended: Yes