How to Train Your Dragon: Bridge to the Wild: Behind the Scenes at the Zoo by Caitlin O'Connell

In the heart of many cities, there is a jungle.

That jungle is the zoo, a world to itself, in some ways a wild world, and in some ways perhaps the most civilized place in the world.

Zoologist and elephant specialist Caitlin O'Connell takes us with her for an unusual day at the zoo, one which shows the reader what happens behind the scenes and why it happens.

Before dawn breaks at Zoo Atlanta, we hear that world waking up before we see it. The many birds in the aviary section provide the dawn chorus, especially the ground hornbill, with his huge goo hoos, and the kori bustard, the largest of the flighted birds with a wingspan of eight feet, with his booming mating call that definitely breaks the day for the keepers.

But the first stop is at the panda house. There are the adorable baby pandas who reach out to the visitors, along with the still-unsolved mystery of panda fertility, or lack of it as the case may be. Tidbits of panda lore include the fact that pandas have evolved an extra thumb-like protrusion that functions as a bamboo peeler which makes for easier chewing of their primary food, important since the large vegans have to spend virtually all their waking hours just chewing their way through the fibrous food that keeps them alive.

Other fascinating stops are at the meerkat compound, where their sentries are already on duty, scouring the skies for raptors and engaging in enforcing the rigid "pecking order" that maintains order in their large colonies, and a stop at the lion enclosures, with their highly paternalistic family groupings.

But the most moving visits are those to the great primates, gorillas and orangutans, our closest cousins, where we learn that male gorillas interpret eye-to-eye contact as aggression, that some gorilla mothers, like Jennifer, are total "helicopter moms," some females, like Cudzu, are clearly the beauty queens of the troop, admired by their court and suitors, while other mothers, like Madu, the Supermom, willingly adopt orphans and raise them well, even bottle feeding the infants and taking them to keepers for treatment when they seem ill. Sadly like their human counterparts, gorilla troops also include "mean girls" who make life lonely for females like Sukari at the bottom of the social order.

Visits to amphibians and reptiles include getting eyeball to eyeball with the black mamba and a scary inside-the-fence experiment in training Komodo dragons. But author Caitlin O'Connell, Sibert Award-winning author of Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt's A Baby Elephant in the Wild and The Elephant Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series) (read my reviews here), has her first love with the elephants, where she describes the "circle of love" that elephants create for their family group. With twenty-five years as a pachyderm expert, O'Connell describes the particular social structure that exists to protect and ensure their survival, with pecking order, cliques, bullying and the rest of the behaviors that have parallels among social mammals.

Caitlin O'Connell's forthcoming today, Bridge to the Wild: Behind the Scenes at the Zoo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), with its many sensitive, informing, and even funny color photographs provided by her partner Timothy Rodwell, offers so much more than a stroll through the exhibits at the zoo, with fascinating insights into testing animal intelligence and veterinary medicine for the captive animals. Who knew that gorillas substitute paper bags in place of the large leaves that they use as umbrellas in the wild, or that zoo vets have trained male lions to open their mouths willingly for dental exams and stick their tails through the bars for blood tests?

There is all that and many other choice tidbits of life in our "bridge to the wild," our local zoos, shared in this attractive and well-documented account of modern zoo work and life. O'Connell acknowledges that in a perfect world all species would live healthy and long lives in their native environments, but until that utopia exists, many wild animals are dependent upon zoos and preserves for their continued survival, and for that knowledgeable and caring professionals are essential. For middle readers who love animals and may want to make careers in caring for them their lives' work, this book is a must read and is surely a first purchase for school and public libraries.

Valuable back matter includes "Data Sheets" from observational charts by zoo naturalists as examples for would-be animal scientists and an excellent index.

To See the Sun: Ivan--The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate

IN LEAFY CALM,
IN GENTLE ARMS,
A GORILLA'S LIFE BEGAN.

Not yet named Ivan, a baby gorilla was born into an Eden-like place, a family of low-land gorillas. He played and learned gorilla ways with other young ones.

But this idyllic life ended abruptly.

POACHERS WITH LOUD GUNS
AND CRUEL HANDS
STOLE THE LITTLE GORILLA
AND ANOTHER BABY.

At the age of six months, the little gorilla and another infant were taken by poachers and sold to a company in faraway Tacoma, Washington. In the 1960s, in the early days of indoor malls, owners tried all sorts of attractions, and in this one there was a small zoo, one with an elephants, chimps, and a seal. The owners publicized their exhibits by running a contest to name the new young gorillas, and the winning names were Ivan and Burma. Although little Burma did not live long in captivity, Ivan was raised by the mall's keeper at his home and in some ways lived like a human child with this family for three years.

HE SLEPT IN A BED,
AND WENT TO BASEBALL GAMES.

HE HAD TO LEARN MANY THINGS
GORILLAS IN THE WILD
DON'T NEED TO KNOW.

But Ivan soon outgrew his human family. Befitting his size and strength, his new home was a concrete enclosure at the center of the mall with a window where shoppers could watch him and he could watch them. He watched his own television set, a reminder of his life with humans, and he still loved to make pictures.

HE FINGER-PAINTED,
SIGNING THE PAPERS
WITH HIS THUMBPRINT.

Although he never saw the sunlight and the colors of the outside world, Ivan remembered them and usually chose bright colors for his paintings. Red was his favorite.

Ivan was Tacoma's "Shopping Mall Gorilla" for 27 years. But over those years, attitudes about captive animals changed. Finally, groups of animal rights protesters campaigned to have Ivan removed from his concrete prison and taken to a more natural habitat for an adult gorilla. Because he had had no life with other gorillas since infancy, Ivan didn't know what he was. He was moved to the zoo in Atlanta and spent some time alone in a transitional enclosure, until at last he was ready to return to a sunlit, green world with others like him.

PEOPLE CHEERED
AND WEPT WITH JOY.

IVAN, THE SHOPPING MALL GORILLA,
WAS IN A PLACE WITH TREES
AND GRASS.
IN LEAFY CALM.
A GORILLA'S LIFE BEGAN AGAIN.

Katherine Applegate's forthcoming picture book, Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2014), tells the real story of the gorilla Ivan that she had fleshed out in her Newbery-winning 2013 novel, The One and Only Ivan (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2013).(See my 2013 review here.) For younger readers here, Applegate's lovely language conveys her theme, drawing together the story of a very intelligent animal, caught between two worlds, two worlds in which he is compelled to live as an alien in both.

Noted artist G. Brian Karas captures the story perfectly in evocative line and wash illustrations, transitioning from Ivan sheltered in his mother's arms in his glady home to charming images of little Ivan in baseball cap and yellow sweater and under his blankie in bed, only to contrast his stark and sterile life in the mall. Karas varies his palette appropriately, from the greenery scenery of Africa to the dark captivity of the shipping crate, from the homey human world of cookies and motorcycle rides, to his lonely and bleak existence as a mall amusement, and finally again to the sun and companionship of other gorillas in his final long-term home at ZooAtlanta.

Ivan's true story gives young readers a new understanding of animals, especially captive wild animals and how they should be allowed to live among us. As in her earlier book, the author respectfully shows that each individual life, even that of a gentle and artistic great ape, can have meaning and impact on the lives of others.

Weighty Matters: How Much Does The Gray In An Elephant Weigh? by Elle Van Lieshout

WHEN YOU VISIT THE ZOO
DO YOU WONDER LIKE I DO...

WHY DOES THE GIRAFFE HAVE SPOTS OF BROWN?
AND DO THE ZEBRA'S STRIPES GO UP OR DOWN?

A small boy's imagination flows freely as he strolls the zoo with his grandfather and envisions the animals he sees in rather strange situations.

Are tangled necks a problem when a pair of flamingos do tangos and fandangos?

Does the rhino know his horn is where his nose is supposed to go?

Does the polar bear, in the summer heat, go for an icy frozen treat?

And does the crocodile's dentist have to count and clean all those teeth?

Elle Van Lieshout's and Erik Van Os' How Much Does the Gray in an Elephant Weigh? (Lenniscott, 2013) is not your usual trip to the zoo with Grandpa. Artist Alice Hoogstad's imagined animals are portrayed in soft but surprising shades, and instead of daydreaming of animals in their natural habitats, this boy conjures up visions of them in fanciful settings--the zebra and giraffe getting their striped and spots painted on in an artist's studio, the croc in a dentist's reclining chair, a lion getting his mane tamed in a salon makeover, and the elephant on an appropriately sizable scale weighing in with and without the gray. Kids who like their zoo trips on the wild side (in more ways than one) will find this rhyming and imaginative outing not your everyday walk in the zoological park.

Home: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. I used to be a wild gorilla, and I still look the part.

It's not as easy as it looks.

People call me the Freeway Gorilla. The Ape at Exit 8. The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback.

I have learned to understand human words over the years, but understanding human speech is not the same as understanding humans.

Ivan is alone in his domain, a glass-enclosed area in The Big Top Mall, his only outlet to the world a small break in the glass through which Julia passes him paper and crayons. Sometimes he eats them, but more often he uses them to create art like Julia has taught him. Ivan is an exhibit, but he is also an valued employee of the mall.  Mack the owner sells his art in the Big Top gift shop for twenty dollars,  twenty-five, framed.

Julia is the daughter of the night custodian, a girl who does her homework while her father works,  and who teaches Ivan how to do art  while her father cleans.  Julia is Ivan's friend, like Stella, the old lame elephant who performs circus tricks, three shows a day, and Bob, a stray dog who slips in to sleep on Ivan's big, warm  belly.

But things are not good at the Big Top Mall.  Business is bad, and people seem to have tired of watching Ivan eat and draw and Stella stand on one foot, not to mention  the baseball-playing chicken and the talking macaw.  Mack is worried about  paying the  bills, grumbling about how much Ivan and Stella eat.

Then Mack finds a new attraction, a cheap baby elephant named Ruby.   Ruby is small and cute, and when her picture is painted on the fading billboard by the highway where Ivan has roared for 27 years, new people begin to come to watch her and Stella, both of them happy to be with another elephant.  But when Mack tries to make Ruby learn old Stella's tricks, she refuses.  Desperate, Mack brings out The Claw, a long pole with a curved blade that pricks and rips Ruby's hide, and Ruby gives in, but the light seems to leave her eyes.

"Ivan?" Stella says in a hoarse whisper. "Ivan?"

"I'm here, Stella," I sit up abruptly. I run to a window. I can see Ruby next to Stella, sleeping.

"Ivan, I want you to promise me something," Stella says "I've never asked for a promise before because promises are forever. Especially when you're in a cage."

"Domain," I correct.

Stella doesn't say anything for a long time. "Domain," she agrees. "Never mind. I don't know what I was thinking. The pain is making me addled."

"You want me to take care of Ruby."

Stella nods, a small gesture that makes her wince. "If she could have a life that's ... different from mine. She needs a safe place, Ivan."

"Not here," I say.  "I promise, Stella, on my honor as a silverback."

Then Stella dies of the infection in her lame foot, and Ivan knows he must do something to keep his promise, something to get them all to that better place that Julia has told him about-- a zoo, the Place Where Humans Make Amends.

And when Julia gives him her old finger paints, Ivan has an idea. If he can create a huge mural of the mall animals together in a place of trees and open spaces, a place called HOME, one like the time and place he  remembers before he was captured, perhaps the people will understand where all the animals should be. It will be his Magnum Opus, one that perhaps will save them all. Ivan begins to paint.

Awarded the 2013 Newbery Award, Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins, 2013) brings home to the reader the loneliness and alienation of captive animals kept in places like the Big Top Mall, away from others of their kind, caged in a world of cement, metal, and glass. Applegate's vivid portrayal of the inner life of captive animals is so insightful and moving that even the youngest readers will empathize with her characters and like Julia, the reader's alter ego, will understand Ivan's longings to return to something like the life for which he was born. As Kirkus Reviews says, "Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author's note identifying the real-life Ivan, will inspire a new generation of advocates."

Pat Goes Wild: Pat the Zoo

BUNNY VISITS THE ZOO!

Pat the Bunny is not a critter to rest on his laurels. On the move and off to the zoo, wearing his pat-able fur coat, Pat discovers a new group of acquaintances, not all wearing fur--with quite different textures to touch and feel.

Elephant’s skin is wrinkly and rough; turtle’s shell is slick and bumpy.

And then there’s a bright-colored (and very loud) bird, with a downy, fluffy feel to her feathers.

Silly seals are fun to play ball with, but their whiskers are not soft like Bunny’s, but really  stiff and prickly.

And if he’s quick enough, Pat the Bunny can feel Frog’s long, pink, very sticky tongue. Now that’s different!

Golden Book’s new board book edition of Pat the Zoo (Pat the Bunny) (Touch-and-Feel) (2012) is a cause for celebration for this pioneer tactile, one-of-a-kind series, especially since it helps youngsters get up close and personal with a panda, lion, and giraffe as well. Also available from some marketers in an interactive e-book format (which offers sounds but not, alas, the traditional tactile experiences of the board book), this very appealing touch and feel book is great to prepare a toddler for a trip to a petting zoo or a full-fledged zoo and is a great way to provide reinforcement of the names of animals to be seen there.

Stereoscopic Menagerie: Zoo in 3-D: An Incredible Animal Adventure by National Geographic Editors

HOW DO animals see?

Some animals (humans included) have stereoscopic (3-D)or binocular vision. Creatures with this type of sight have both eyes at the font of the head, facing forward, so that the visual fields, or the areas they see in front of them, overlaps.

The brain processes the overlapping images three dimensionally, which helps these animals with their depth perception, enabling them to judge distances accurately.  Predators such as lions, owls, and dogs usually have stereoscopic vision.

When winter weather makes a trip to the zoo an unwonted event, what to do? National Geographic, the signature purveyor of children's books studded with nature photos, is aware of this need, and into the  breech  comes their new and  inventive offering, TIME for Kids Zoo 3D: An Incredible Animal Adventure (Time for Kids Magazine) (National Geographic Time for Kids Books, 2012).  Accoutered with TWO pairs of 3-D glasses (modeled by the stylin' orangutan on the cover), this book makes it possible for two children or parent and child to view the book together. Included are the usual zoo favorites--lions, tigers (Bengal and White), and bears (Asian, polar and grizzly, Oh, My!)--as well as the other usual suspects--elephant, cheetah, sea lion, giant panda, cougar, and ostrich in glorious stereoscopic detail. Less common zoo denizens are also there--bonobo (pygmy chimp), Komodo dragon, Cuban crocodile, kookaburra, and hissing cockroach.

In true National Geographic style, there is plenty of knowledge provided textually on each page, along with intriguing Did You Know...? fact boxes which expand the discussion, as well as a final section, "Who's Who at the Zoo," which shows all the human specialists, from food prep dietitians and workers to veterinarians, and other attendants in the background at every zoo. Also shown is the D.A.V.I.D, (digitally anaglyphic vertically inclined display) which pops off the page when viewed at an angle.

Books for children continue to be the most interactive, inventive, and novel format in the publishing world, finding ways to do things inside the conventional cover that even ebooks can't begin to achieve so well.  National Geographic Kids Time continues to exploit the possibilities of the book, this one a throwback to the stereopticons of Victorian days and its later iterations in 3-D films from the 1950s Creature from the Black Lagoon to The Hobbit. To put it tritely but truly, this book is fun and informative for all members of the family.

Heart-y! My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

MY HEART IS LIKE A ZOO!

EAGER AS A BEAVER.

STEADY AS A YAK.

HOPEFUL AS A HUNGRY HERON

FISHING FOR A SNACK.

Award-winning designer Michael Hall's first picture book effort, My Heart Is Like a Zoo (Greenwillow, 2009), constructs a menagerie of charming animals from overlapping hearts, set forth appealingly against solid-color double-page spreads. Although some of his text lines, all similes which compare heartfelt feelings to animal behavior, work better than others, the illustrations alone are so cleverly creative in their construction that they will hold the attention of preschool listeners and older readers throughout this book.

Particularly engaging is Hall's walrus, reclining massively but comfortably on a striped beach towel, head, bulky body, and front feet all inverted hearts, hind flippers formed from a recumbent heart--all instantly recognizable as this slow and stolid animal, with an appropriate caption...

... PEACEFUL AS A PORTLY WALRUS LOUNGING ON A TOWEL...

and followed by an equally clever clam, consisting of two hearts, one split down the middle and on its side to form the shell, and the second, peeping out to form the clam inside, with its line...

... COZY AS A CLAM...

The first reaction of youngsters will be to focus on the heart shapes in each collage-style illustration and to react to how, with a few snips and artful positioning, Hall creates the essence of each animal from just one basic shape, very much in the manner of Lois Ehlert's wonderful die-cut and color-blocked book, Color Zoo. Proving that his book is not mere eye candy, Hall adds an appealing appendix to the book which encourages number-loving kids to count the hearts in each illustration and even total them up ("over 300," promises the author).

To this celebration of shape, Hall also brings a brief language lesson in the use of similes, exploring feelings of the heart tied to well-known animals, as in "...quiet as a caterpillar wearing knitted socks." The book closes with a comfy kid, cozily sleeping while his zoo of heart-shaped animals keep watch from the shelf above his bed, making this warm and reassuring offering a good choice for both sleepy time and an exciting stimulus for classroom art and language and math activities.

HarperCollins rolls out the red carpet for this one with a delightfully animated trailer backed up by a toe-tapping tune, to be seen here:

Readers will definitely *heart* this brand-new delight, for Valentine's Day and all year round. A great introduction to the creative work of a very promising new author/illustrator!