Amadou's zoo

When Amadou first appears in his bright sweater, he stands out. In contrast to his quiet, gray classmates, he is in constant motion as the teacher explains their field trip. After what seems like an interminable crosstown journey, the children finally arrive at the zoo, and Amadou is enraptured. Walsh's watercolor and acrylic-gel illustrations depict him dancing with flamingos, stalking alongside a lion, and swimming with a hippopotamus. As his imagination blossoms, color spreads to the previously white backgrounds, to the animals, and to the other children as well, revealing a group of varying genders, skin tones, and hair types. Even the practical teacher becomes more animated after being lovingly engulfed by butterflies. By the end, the group has left behind their nondescript gray and are moving forward, ready to take full advantage of whatever they may imagine. This simple story and well-rendered art provide an opportunity for even the youngest readers to develop visual literacy skills as they observe the stylistic visual changes made from page to page.

Some things need to be contagious. Amadou, a young boy of African descent, can't wait to accompany his teacher, Madame Minier, and his classmates to the zoo--a very old zoo "built for a king." But even before the field trip, it's clear that Amadou's idea of what to do at the zoo and Madame Minier's sit worlds apart. Dreaming distracts him from what's actually happening in class, and waiting patiently in line for the train feels like an imposition to Amadou, who can hardly contain his excitement when he sees the zoo's birds. Soon, Amadou's imagination prompts him to call and dance with the flamingos. His teacher seems determined to get the children to lean animal facts from reading the signs, but Amadou is even more determined to observe and experience the animals. At this book's opening, Walsh illustrates only Amadou in color, and everything and everyone else in sepia and white. As Amadou's animal fantasies take over, the color spreads, first to two other students and eventually to all of the characters and all of the page. The children spend the day riding the elephants, crawling with the tortoise, wading with the hippo, and more, and at last, a swarm of colorful butterflies convinces Madame Minier that Amadou has had the right idea all along. Madame Minier presents white; Amadou's classmates are diverse. An exuberant and wondrous testimony to the power of one little brown boy's imagination. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.