Vive La Difference! Wild About Us! by Karen Beaumont

I'M WARTY WARTHOG!
CAN'T BE WHO I'M NOT.

I AM WHO I AM,
AND I'VE GOT WHAT I'VE GOT.

I HAVE TUSKS! I HAVE WARTS!
BUT I LIKE WHAT I SEE!

YESSIRREE!

WE ALL ARE THE WAY
WE ARE MEANT TO BE!

I gotta be me is Warthog's theme song. Tusky and warty and lumpy and bumpy, hairy and (frankly) a bit scary, Wartie's no sleek gazelle, but after all, it takes all kinds!

Rhino's fine with wrinkled skin she's in, and Elephant knows she's supposed to have a long nose.

And who slams flamingos because they're all pink?

OR TELLS POTBELLIED PIG SHE'S TOO
PLUMP, DO YOU THINK?

Tortoise is slow, and leopard is spotty. Hippo is hippy, and Giraffe is gangling. But their many differences are what make them interesting.

WE'RE GLAD WE ARE DIFFERENT!
IT WOULD BE SUCH A SHAME

IF YOU CAME TO THE ZOO
AND WE ALL WERE THE SAME!

In her just published Wild About Us! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), Karen Beaumont puts her versatility with verses to good use in reminding young readers that individuality has its virtues, even in looks. You get what you get, but hey--Variety is the spice of life! Beaumont's just right rhymes set the stage for the Caldecott Award-winning artist Janet Stevens to strut her stuff, creating detailed animal characters who are true to their species while radiating humor and personality plus. Stevens' illustrations keep the pages turning with inventive book design--her critters are shown in spot-art head shots or multiple animal faces surrounding the text on the page, in double-page spreads, horizontal (for Kangaroo and her outrageously long tail and feet) and vertical (for the leggy Giraffe). Hippo boogies her generous caboose on page right, while with a simple page turn her forequarters appear and she grins proudly from the next page.

Celebrating our differences has never been more fun, and Beaumont and Stevens make their point that variety is indeed the spice (and wonder) of life. This book, like Stevens' Caldecott Honor-winning Tops & Bottoms (Caldecott Honor Book), is a hilarious storytime treat that practically reads itself.

He's Back! Clifford Visits the Zoo by Norman Bridwell

I'M EMILY ELIZABETH, AND THIS IS MY DOG.

HIS NAME IS CLIFFORD.

For more than two generations of preschoolers, Emily Elizabeth has explored the world around her with the help of her pet, Clifford the Big Red Dog. And it seems that Clifford is still sniffing out new adventures.

TODAY WE ARE GOING TO THE ZOO!

THE PEOPLE AT THE ZOO HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE CLIFFORD.

To the animals at the zoo, Clifford is their exhibit, and they all peer from their enclosures at the giant red dog while Clifford studies them. They are all animals, but they are different from Clifford.

The penguins are small and Clifford is big. The howler monkeys are noisy. Clifford is quiet. The muddy hippos are dirty, but Clifford is clean. Butterflies are light, while Clifford is heavy.

Emily Elizabeth compares ten very different zoo animals to Clifford, introducing contrasting adjectives as well as unusual animals like sloths, koalas, and chameleons to youngsters as  she strolls through the zoo, with Norman Bridwell's famous dog in Clifford Visits the Zoo (Scholastic Press, 2014). An appendix, Animal Facts, fills in other details about each animal, including geographic habitat, diet, and fun factoids: the howler monkey can be heard three miles away; seals can hold their breath underwater for an hour; and Monarch butterflies migrate 2000 miles in the winter to stay warm.

A popular preschool character, television cartoon star, and everyone's favorite red dog, Clifford is still teaching kids and still has all his star power. As Emily Elizabeth says,

CLIFFORD IS MANY THINGS, BUT MOST OF ALL, HE IS LOVED!

Please Do Not Excite the Animals: Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo by John Lithgow

It's off to an orchestra concert in the park for a boy whose initial expectations are actually not all that high. Sitting next to his sister while violins fiddle and French horns tootle--how exciting can that be? And in fact, the sensory experience is indeed all too soporific!

The soft summer air was so balmy and sweet
And the program was running so long
That I found myself falling asleep in my seat.
Despite all the music and song.

But just as he's dozing off, fate steps in to change the scene:

Oh, children, remember, whatever you do.
Never play music right next to the zoo!
They'll burst from from their cages, each beast and each bird.
Desperate to play all the music they've heard!

The zoo critters storm the bandstand. The musicians, in long gowns and tuxedos, put up a good fight to hold on to their instruments. The tubby lady bassoonist wields a mean music stand in the face of the bear, but the zoo animals finally overpower them and take their places. While the goat makes short work of the sheet music for the staid numbers in the program, the hippo, who definitely has the lip for it, takes up the tuba and heads up the rhythm section.

The monkeys played fiddle, the bison played bass.
The percussion were manned by the camel.
The yak played the sax until red in the face,
A surprisingly musical mammal.

The animals have a blast, the grownups are enraptured, but the boy wonders with  horror  how the animals will be recaptured, in John Lithgow's latest picture book, Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo (Simon & Schuster, 2013).

Not to worry, though, as the boy finds himself emerging from a nice symphonic nap with all the human bandsmen right where they should be. But despite the oft-employed "it was all a dream" motif, Lithgow proves himself more able than the average celeb author to put over quatrains whose rhythm and rhymes, like those of Dr. Seuss, are an intrinsic part of the fun and appeal of the story. Leeza Hernandez (who did up the dandy dogs in Lithgow's earlier best-seller, I Got Two Dogs: (Book and CD)) provides the comic critters that supply the engaging visual fun for this story. Lithgow has a real knack for performing children's songs with just the right touch of sincerity spiced with irony, and does so again in the CD included in this book.

The introduction of the orchestral instruments makes this story a great lead-in to primary graders studying symphony music as well as zoo animals, both of which add to the uses for this jolly storytime treat. As Kirkus Reviews reports, "Move over, Carnival of the Animals (illustrated by Boris Kulikov, 2004); here's another snappy, yet lighter and younger, zoological fantasy to add to Lithgow's repertoire." For young symphonic sophisticates (savvy third graders, for example), pair this one with Lemony Snicket's terribly clever The Composer Is Dead. See my review here.)

"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.

Doing the Zoo: Out and About at the Zoo by Jo Lindell

OUT AND ABOUT
IS SO MUCH FUN,
ESPECIALLY WHEN
IT'S WITH MY MUM.

"What is so rare as a day in June," said the poet, and where better to go on a sunny summer day than the zoo? And that just what Mum and son do in Jo Lindell's newly-published Out and About at the Zoo (Create Space, 2012). The two make the tour, taking in all those must-see animals that preschoolers love:

GIRAFFES WITH NECKS,
LONG AND TALL.
I BET FROM UP THERE
I LOOK REALLY SMALL.

Hippos plod and splash, lions and tigers tear into their lunches, kangas hop high, and elephants look as if they're ready for some water-squirting fun, as Mum and child make the rounds. All the animals wear big, welcoming smiles, except for one!

CROCODILES WITH BIG TEETH,
READY TO BITE!

It's just a delicious little fright from safety outside the croc's enclosure, and this little zoo-goer is not in the least deterred by crocodile teeth, so that when when his mother notices it's time to go, he can't wait to invite the reader along on a return trip.

What this colorful little story has going for it is the simplicity of its illustrations and its easy-to-read rhyming quatrains which capture the essence of each animal. The simple black-line and flat primary colors of the pictures likewise capture a stylized, almost iconic, look of each zoo creature, making this book a good choice as an introduction to the zoo or as a reprise of a recent visit to relive the experience. This book is appropriate for lap-sitting toddlers just learning the names of the animals, and with its contextual cues built into the illustrations, even a good beginning book for the emergent reader for an "I can read it all by myself" solo session. The closing text even hints that there may be more "Out and About" books in the offing.

Sneezles: A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead

Amos McGee was an early riser.

Every morning when the alarm clock clanged, he swung his legs out of bed and swapped his pajamas for a fresh-pressed uniform.

Amos McGee lives a very orderly life. Skinny and slightly stooped, gray-haired, and nondescript, each morning he has his pot of tea and takes a very early bus to his job as a zookeeper.

Although he is a diligent worker, Amos always has time for his animal friends. He takes the time for chess with the elephant, although his opponent takes a rather long time to make up his ponderous mind over each move. He sits for a while with his friend the penguin, runs a race with the big tortoise, a provides a clean hankie for the rhinoceros, who seems always to have a rhinovirus in his nose. Amos even stays after quitting time to read a story to the owl, whom he knows is unaccountably afraid of the dark.

Then one day, Amos is not an early riser.

Amos awoke with sniffles, and sneezes, and chills.

He swung his legs out of bed, swung them back and said, "Ugh. I don't think I'll be going to work today."

At the zoo, Amos is very much missed. His friends grow anxious about his absence, and as the day wears down, they solemnly assemble at the gate, walk down the street to the bus stop, the penguin bringing along a red balloon for the absent Amos. Amos' companions fill the small bus, balloon and all, and make their way to Amos' house.

There they find Amos alone in bed, still a bit under the weather, and his friends know just what to do to make him feel better. Elephant sets up the chess board and plays a gently-paced game, while penguin warms his feet. Since Amos is not up to races, the tortoise plays a quiet game of hide-and-seek. Rhino produces a supply of clean handkerchiefs for Amos' snuffly nose. Owl prepares a light supper and pours everyone a cup of tea.

Amos wound his alarm clock.

"It's getting late," he said. "After all, we have a morning bus to catch."

And when twilight darkens the room, the owl reads Amos a bedtime story, just in case he is afraid of the dark, and they all settle down in for a friendly sleep-over.

Philip Stead's and Christian Phillips' A Sick Day for Amos McGee (Roaring Brook Press, 2010) is as modest and unassuming a little book as its main character, but one that speaks volumes about the nature of friendship. Erin Stead's carefully constructed woodblock illustrations carry infinite quiet details which will draw children's attention long after the simply-told tale is done.