Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott

 

2012  

The protagonist whose name we never learn is an orphan. She goes with the other children on a visit to the zoo. She doesn’t get on well with the others and is often alone.  She is fascinated by the animals who befriend her and manages to get left behind. Two of the zoo keepers find her. She is returned to the orphanage. Later the two zookeepers who found her adopt her.      

There are very few words in this book. The story is told mainly though the pictures.

The two main themes are isolation and adoption. The main character feels more at home with the animals than with her peers. Readers, including the caring adult who shares the book with the child, will have to suspend their disbelief. It’s probably not wise for a child to cuddle up to tigers.

Some of the pictures from the story are repeated in the end-papers. They show the protagonist playing with the animal, perhaps emphasising that this little girl is more comfortable with animals than with other humans.

She is not treated unkindly at the orphanage. The adult there looks kind.  

The few words in this text are in a lager font though do have difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s. 

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Amara and the bats by Emma Reynolds

 

 

 

2021  

Amara becomes interested in bats when one is trapped in the attic. The animal rescue comes and helps the bat.  She then moves house and visits a local park where the bat population has diminished because more and more land is being built upon.  She and her school friends raise money in order to buy bat nesting-boxes for the park. And the bats return.

The text is somewhat denser and more sophisticated than normal for the preschool child.  However, the pictures both illustrate and tell more story.

There is a lot of information about bats throughout the text and in a really dense section at the end. The caring adult who reads with the child has their work cut out.

The text uses mainly an adult serif font with difficult ‘a’s but with an easier ‘g’. Some parts of the text use a simple font, without a serif and with simple ‘a’s and ‘g’s.  These are labels on pictures and in some of the material at the end of the book. The text is ragged right throughout apart from in the back blurb and the author bio.

Politeness for Penguins by Zanna Davidson and Duncan Beedie

 

2022  

pre-school, ages3-5, lower primary school, Davidson Zann, Beedie Duncan, Good Behaviour Guide,    

The penguins are a bit of a mess.  But the Emperor is coming and they must mend their ways.  So, they learn to become super polite. However the Emperor he is not particularly well-mannered himself.  Despite this the penguins decide to hold on to their new ways as they realise that good manners come from kindness and kindness is a good thing to practise.

Usborne describes this as a “Good Behaviour Guide”.     

This is a very busy book. The pages in which the penguins behave badly are full of entertaining pictures and colourful vocabulary.  The pictures tell a supplementary story. The last double spread is particularly busy. Many of the pictures are integrated into the text and there are speech bubbles in some of them.  Pre-schoolers may enjoy attempting to read some of the words.   

The font is large but is definitely one for the more sophisticated reader.