I was asked to review The Zoo is Closed Today and At The Zoo Scratch & Sketch Books and I was very excited to accept. My 12 year old son has struggled with reading since he first started with learning how to read as a toddler. My younger children love to read and my 5 year old son has gotten a pretty strong head start with reading so he will be ready for kindergarden in the fall. It seemed meant to be with perfect timing and all.
The first book that arrived at our home was The Zoo is Closed Today,written by Evelyn Beilenson and illustrated by Anne Kennedy, and my kids were thrilled to have a new book to read. They especially loved to have their big brother read it to them. I thought the book was very cute and I enjoyed reading it at bedtime myself to the kids.
“The Zoo is Closed Today written by Evelyn Beilenson, illustrated by Anne Kennedy:
It was a warm sunny day
with not much to do.
So Sue and John walked
to the Kalamazoo.
But when John and Sue arrive at the zoo, they are in for a big surprise! What is wrong with all of the animals? From Edward the elephant to Marcel the monkey, the animals have tummy aches and toothaches, runny noses and sore throats. Pete the zookeeper can barely keep up with taking care of them and has to close the zoo. And the next day, John and Sue are in for an even bigger surprise! This charming tale, illustrated with humor and warmth, demonstrates the value of sweet friendship.”
The Zoo Scratch & Sketch Activity book arrived a few days later and let me tell you my children were fighting for that book. I literally had to pull a few pages out so that they could all make their animals come to life by scratching the black coating off the pages to reveal the rainbow colors below. My kids are all artistic in their own ways but my 3 year old really would like to have been able to participate in the art activities in the book but she was having a little trouble and needed help scratching the black covering off. My 12 year old again came to the rescue and sat with her at the table until she was able to finish a picture the way she wanted.
“At The Zoo Scratch & Sketch: An Art Activity Book for Animal Lovers by Lee Nemmers, illustrated by Martha Day Zschock
This fun and easy Trace-Along art activity book allows budding artists (5 and up) to use the wooden drawing tool enclosed to trace the white outlines of favorite animals on black-coated scratch art pages. Kids will be delighted to see lions, tigers, bears, seals, and more come alive in swirls of colors and glittery foil! They can also use the sketch pages in the back to draw their own pictures of favorite animals. At the
Zoo Scratch & Sketch Art Activity Book includes a wooden stylus for drawing on black-coated paper to reveal glittering, gleaming colors beneath, wire-o-bound hardcover binding and 20 scratch off, 20 illustrated and 20 sketch pages. “
For more information on The Zoo is Closed Today and At The Zoo Scratch & Sketch Books please visit www.peterpauper.com
The Zoo is Closed Today and At The Zoo Scratch & Sketch Books Gets Bragging Rights!!
