Zoobilations!

Bibliography:

Florian, Douglas. 2022. ZOOBILATIONS! New York: Beach Lane Books.  ISBN 9781534465909

Plot Summary:

Douglas Florian writes a playful, colorful collection of poems about animals that you may see in the zoo. Each poem talks about what the animal can do or maybe not. The words Mr. Florian uses to describe the animals give the reader an idea of what the animal looks like but also what they can do physically. Kids will find a poem about centipedes and millipedes:"The centipede and millipede for legs, could win a medal." This is talking about how the two insects would win a race because of their speed having so many legs.

Critical Analysis:

I enjoyed reading this book not just for the poems and how silly they read but for the artwork that Mr. Florian has included on the pages. On the cover, just above the author's name, there is the byline, "Animal Poems and Paintings"; but I couldn't believe that those illustrations were created using paint. The illustrations created are so child-like: colorful, crayon-looking, and funny.  Yes, the illustrations look like the animals that Mr. Florian writes the poem about but he does and excellent job at making it kid-friendly. It's like the child who reads this book will be inspired to try and draw the picture more than writing a poem.

While the illustrations are wonderful, Mr. Florian does a good job at writing about them. He talks about what the horses, seagulls, and mandrills look like. He uses rhyme so that as you read the poem, you find yourself singing and giggling. Mr. Florian writes about the mandrill and he plays with the monkey's name: "You're not a man. You're not a drill. You're just a funky monkey-..."; little ones and maybe big, too will laugh about it. This is definitely a book for the young readers and children who love wordplay and puns.

Review Excerpt(s):

THE HORN BOOK: "Florian's experimentation with word meanings and usage models how to have fun with writing, imagery, and verse."

Connections:

K-3 teachers can read this as preview before taking the field trip to the zoo.

Elementary art teachers can show the pictures to the students and teach them how using certain kinds of paints can make pictures look as though they were hand-drawn.

*This review are my own words and are part of a graduate studies class at Sam Houston State University.