Welcome To The Zoo (Dolly Parton's Imagination Library)

PreSchool-Grade 2-Jay leads readers on a journey through a fantastical zoo in this wordless picture book. Here, there are no cages, and the animals interact freely with the families and zookeepers roaming the park. The book has numerous mini-stories. Children can follow a family of four, a boy with a penguin balloon, and a couple with a perky French poodle, or simply watch the mischievous animals engage in remarkably humanlike activities. One side of the last spread asks readers: "Now that you've walked through the zoo, can you find...?" and shows cameos for careful observers to spot. The other side challenges perceptive youngsters: "What else can you find?" and asks questions such as "Whose legs are these?" and "Whose lunch is this?" Jay's distinctive crackle-varnished paintings are light and fun. Her colors are soft and her shapes rounded, making the animals as friendly as the stuffed toys on a child's bed. Youngsters will have a grand time tracing the movements of everything from parakeets to pandas.-Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, Kearns Library, UT