Review by Booklist Review
Normal 0 Ryan's latest children's book is a zany aerospace adventure.Zoo animals spy a spaceship and decide to take a trip to the moon. The animalshave specific jobs to perform if their mission is to succeed. But soon afterliftoff, the rhino dozes off at the controls, and the animals have to scramble toturn the ship around. Ryan's tight mix of wordplay and rhyming onomatopoeia isset to a predictable yet playful pattern for children to easily grasp. Uniqueto her clever narrative is Ryan's choice of animal names that segue smoothlyinto distinctive jobs. Good examples are lines such as monkey turns thekey and buffalo shifts low. Perfectly complementing Ryan'stext is Pamintuan's colorful and comical scenes many of which are two-pagedisplays. While younger preschoolers will be captivated with the combination ofrhyming wordplay and hilarious illustrations, older readers may be moreinquisitive and find all the matching rhymes. Designed to be interactive, ZooZoom! is a great addition for home and library collections, particularly as a read-aloud selection.--Lock, Anita Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
There's a rocket ship parked outside the zoo, Monkey has the key, and all of his zoo-mates are game for an extraterrestrial joyride. Some of them-Buffalo, Flamingo, Crocodile-take to the controls like Han Solo. But there are loose cannons on board, too: Pronghorn brings a French horn, and Rhino falls asleep against a lever, threatening to send the ship hurtling far further into space than anyone intends. Pamintuan's (the Alien in My Pocket series) digital illustrations have the energy and strong characterizations of classic animation, while Ryan's (Ewe and Aye) text is a kind of smorgasbord: simple sentences ("Flamingo calls, 'Go!' Kiwi cries, 'Whee!' ") are followed by rhetorical questions with internal rhymes ("Which seat can't be beat?") and a refrain built around the word "zoo" ("Zoo Vroom! Zoo Vroom!"). It doesn't do much to move the story forward, but the method behind the madness becomes clear in the final pages, where the text takes on a canyon echo effect as the animals return home: "Crocodile dial./ Pronghorn horn./ Buffalo low./ Cockatoo, too." Ages 3-6. Illustrator's agent: Mela Bolinao, MB Artists. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A clever story of a bunch of zoo animals on an adventure to the moon. The animals take over a rocket ship and blast off. The simple, rhyming text makes this appealing as both a read-aloud and an option for emerging readers. Pamintuan's illustrations feature colorful cartoons reminiscent of the Disney cartoons from the 1990s. The style perfectly complements the tone of the book and adds an extra layer of humor that will appeal to children. VERDICT A funny picture book addition for most collections.-Patrick Tierney, Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School, Providence, RI © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
The zoo animals hop into a rocket and blast off to the moon, but an asleep-at-the-wheel rhino sends them off course, returning them to Earth. The text, with its quasi-rhymes, wordplay, and onomatopoeia, is awkward, but the story has an easy-to-follow trajectory. Clear, energetic digital illustrations reminiscent of film animation will engage both the space-travel and zoo-animal fandoms. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A bevy of zoo animals takes off for the moon. Endpapers show a group of animals rushing toward a rocket ship, and then the story follows them page by page as they blast off into space. The text is playful, if a bit forced, with a question-and-answer format that allows the illustrations to support textual responses to queries: "Puffin flies in. / Cockatoo, too. / Which gear to get here? / ZOO MOON! ZOO MOON!" typifies the pattern. The accompanying digital illustration shows the puffin and cockatoo at the rocket's control board, but it also includes animals from the prior spreads, which creates a cumulative visual effect that continues throughout the book. It's notable that the animals included aren't all familiar onesbranching out from the common lions, elephants, giraffes, and so on, this book instead includes not just a puffin and a cockatoo, but a kiwi and a pronghorn among other exotic choices. The animals' cooperative effort to reach the moon fails, alas, with worries of "ZOO DOOM!" and sightings of "ZOO FUMES!" The animals safely return to the space center to plan for and dream about the next time they can (try to) zoom to the moon. An agreeable book to entice space enthusiasts as well as animal lovers. (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
