"Wild Thing--You Make My Heart Sing!" Wild about You by Judy Sierra

EVERY KID NEED A FAMILY. WE KNOW
THAT IT'S TRUE.
AND TO BRING UP A BABY...IT TAKES A
WHOLE ZOO!

All the pairs at the zoo seem to have babies. Some parents are totally smitten with their offspring's every doing, but a few, like the crocodiles, admit that they can be trouble.

"BLECH! BABIES ARE AWFUL!" THE CROCODILES TOLD THEM.
"THEY BITE AND SCRATCH AND THEY HOWL WHEN YOU HOLD THEM."

THEY WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL THEM TO DO.
AND ON TOP OF ALL THAT, THEY MAKE MOUNTAINS OF POO!

Only the tree kangaroo and the panda pair have no little ones. The would-be panda parents speak right up when the the crocs complain.

"MAY WE HAVE YOUR BABIES?" THE PANDAS ASKED SWEETLY.
"NO, NO!" CRIED THEIR PARENTS. "WE LOVE THEM COMPLETELY!"

There is one potential baby going unclaimed though. The zookeepers have one "endangered species rescue" egg that none of the birds want to adopt. The only taker seems to be the childless tree kangaroo, whose pouch is actually a perfect incubator. And like all doting mothers-to-be, she dreams of a sweet little birdie singing to her in her tree. But, as all parents find out, you get what you get, and when the egg hatches, she discovers that her dreams were a little off the mark.

"I HAVE HATCHED OUT A PENGUIN," SHE SAID. "OH, MY WORD!
I WASN'T EXPECTING THAT KIND OF A BIRD!

PENGUINS DON'T FLY. PENGUINS NEVER SING SWEETLY.
BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER. I LOVE YOU COMPLETELY.

YES, YOU ARE THE ANSWER TO ALL OF MY WISHES.
THOUGH I MAY NEED SOME HELP...BECAUSE PENGUINS EAT FISHES!"

In their latest unique collaboration, Wild About You! (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012), the dynamic duo of Judy Sierra and Marc Brown show that it does take a whole zoo-full of animals to raise that penguin. And when a stray kitten is taken in by the childless pandas, the tiger sends over some extra feline milk while the puffins are providing fishy provender for the little penguin, as the zoo nurtures and welcomes its new adoptive residents.

"HERE'S A COOL PANDACAT.
HERE'S A SWEET PENGAROO!"

"... a distinct Seussian vibe," says Publishers Weekly.

Judy Sierra's jaunty rhymes and Marc Brown's one-of-a-kind illustrations are comic combos, as in their earlier hits, Wild About Books (Irma S and James H Black Honor for Excellence in Children's Literature (Awards)) and ZooZical.