Pros: Excellent for PreK-grade 2 or 3. More thoughtful than your "average" alphabet book.
Cons: None!
The Bottom Line: Great choice for kids who have nailed the alphabet and could stand a little expanded thinking on the usual A-Z list. Also a nice introduction to poetry.
kentmom's Full Review: Judy Sierra - There's A Zoo In Room 22
There's A Zoo in Room 22 is an ideal book for kids from preschool through second grade, and probably well into third grade. Don't make the mistake of dismissing it as just another alphabet book! (I almost did)
There's a Zoo... introduces a different animal on each page (or two-page spread, in a few cases) and indeed, they are presented in alphabetical order. This isn't Wild Kingdom, though.
Rather than listing some fascinating facts about Anacondas and Warthogs (and a couple dozen animals in-between) the lighthearted book presents a whimsical poem about each animal as it enters the class.
Some of the poems are long; some short; some are better than others. But author Judy Sierra maintains the premise throughout - that these are animals collecting in an elementary school classroom.
The moose is a mistake - the class was waiting for a mouse. Fletcher, Frasier, Fred, and Floyd are fleas. They hitched a ride on Claude the cat. (Imagine that!) I had to look up jaguarundi (UPS delivered it on Monday) - and indeed, it's a cat that lives in South America.
In my opinion, this is a great book for the going-to-school set. Like A is for Salad, it takes the alphabet book in a whole new direction. Bravo, Ms. Sierra! An added bonus: Barney Saltzberg did the illustrations; yes, Barney Saltzberg who created that crazy pig, Cornelius P. Mud.
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