Betty Johnson

I received a pdf version of this book for free on LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

I had just read another book by this same author. As I had just given the other book a one star review, I was not expecting a whole lot for this book. While this book was better in some ways, I was still disappointed by the quality of a book that is aimed at teaching small children about zoo animals. In addition to a misspelled word in the “About the Author” section, there are a lot of little things that detract from the book.

There are some pages that continue the topic of the previous page, but they just have text, no pictures. This makes the format a little more boring.

There are a couple of pictures in the PDF where the pictures do not display properly. Portions of the animals have blocks of color over areas instead of the proper shape of the animal.
I especially have a problem with the information about snakes. Snakes are not poisonous, they are venomous. While this is common misinformation, a book that is supposed to teach children real facts about animals should at least be sure that all the facts are correct. Also, the way in which snakes are talked about can lead to unhealthy fear about snakes, even harmless ones. It is mentioned that there are harmless and helpful snakes, but does not say anything about how they are helpful. The information focuses on the features of dangerous snakes. There is mention of snakes that can be deadly, but there is no mention that there is anti-venom that is available for many of such snakes, especially for the dangerous snakes that are wild in the U.S. This is the type of presentation that reinforced my unhealthy fear of all snakes since I was a child. Had I been taught the difference between “good” and “bad” snakes and how the “good” snakes can be helpful and harmless, it would have helped me to react to snakes better as a child, as well as an adult.

There is specific information that is shared about the animals that may be interesting to older readers but seems a little complex for the ages that the rest of the writing seems to be _targeting. It leaves confusion about what _target ages this book is really for.

There is a section at the end titled “Quiz Answers”, which seems an awkward title as there is no separate “Quiz” section, just a list of all the questions and answers. The questions and answers to some of the questions refer to some of the complex information just mentioned. Again, this introduces confusion about the _target ages.

While wanting to teach children information about different zoo animals is wonderful, there are too many detractors in this book that can take away from that goal. I recommend looking elsewhere on information about zoo animals.… (more)