Review #83: the Life-Size Zoo series

Dad:  Yea!  We finally tackle some non-fiction.  Today we are looking at 3 books in a series: "Life-Size Zoo," "More Life-Size Zoo," and "Life-Size Aquarium."
Gracie (age 10):  The books show life-size pictures of animals and they give you really neat facts.
Isaac (age 12):  It's like going to the zoo.  The books tell you what animals do during the day, and the animals are the exact size you would see them at the zoo.
Dad:  But even better, because you wouldn't get that close to an animal's face in real life.
Isaac:  It's like we have two zoos and an aquarium in our house right now.
Lily (age 7):  It's a Home Zoo.
Isaac:  It's a whole zoo in your hands.
Dad:  Tell me about the size of the books...
Isaac:  They are really big.  Since the animals are life-size, they need the books to be big so you can see as much of the animal as you can.  And some of the pages fold open, and there is a huge animal.  One page folds out a bunch of times, and it turns into a huge lion face -- it's so awesome.
Dad:  Can you imagine sitting right in front of that lion?
Isaac:  Eep!
Dad:  Why don't we take one book at a time, and you guys each highlight one animal inside.  First up, "Life-Size Zoo."  Go ahead, Gracie...
Gracie:  The giant panda is smaller than I expected.  But it still has a really big head.  His face is bigger than mine.  I already knew a lot about pandas -- there are a lot of interesting facts about them.  This panda's name is Kou Kou.  For each animal, the book tells you its name, its gender, its age, and its scientific name.
Isaac:  My animal is the ceratotherium simum.
Dad:  Which is a...?
Isaac:  Rhinoceros.  My cool fact is that their horns are made up of hair.  They are not bone.  They are bundles of hairs all smashed together.  I never knew that until I read this book.
Dad:  And you can actually see the hairs in this giant photo.
Isaac:  Yes.  And it is very gross.  You can see every little detail and every piece of mud.  This page folds out.  It is a huge, huge, huge picture of a rhinoceros.  But even though it folds out, the only things that can fit are his horn and his eyeball and his skin.  Because it's life-size.
Lily:  I have Carol the Zebra.  That's a big head.  She is 10 years old.  Her scientific name is equ....  blah.
Dad:  Equus quagga burchelli.
Lily:  Blech.  That's a bad name.  I like "Carol."  Carol has a lot of black and white stripes.  There are hairs around her mouth, and it helps her find food.
Gracie:  Dad, do you find food with the hair on your chin?
Lily:  There are three kinds of zebras.  A plains zebra, a grevy's zebra, and a mountain zebra.  Do mountain zebra's live on mountains?
Dad:  Maybe.  Those ones probably live on the mountains, and these ones live on the plains.  And these ones live in gravy.
Lily:  Awww!  I don't want to eat gravy now.
Dad:  You never know if a zebra's been wading in your gravy.
Lily:  Ew.
Dad:  Now, on to "More Life-Size Zoo."  Isaac, what animal are you going to tell us about?
Isaac:  Bats.  I learned that the ends of bat wings are actually hands.  They have a little claw thing at the top, but that's their thumb.  All their fingers are hooked into their wings so they can open and shut them.
Dad:  It's almost like animals that have webbed fingers.  But here, the webbing is their wings.
Lily:  I didn't know that!
Dad:  Do you remember when we saw a bat at our old house?
Gracie:  There were two bats.
Dad:  Did you ever look at them after I caught them?
Isaac:  No.  We were too freaked out.
Elijah (age 5):  I loved it!
Dad:  You don't remember that!
Isaac:  You were a baby.
Dad:  Your turn Lily.  Tell us about an animal...
Lily:  Wolves are white, gray, and brown.
Dad:  Not just one color?  Patchy?
Lily:  Yep.  And his tongue can go all the way up and touch his nose -- like you, Dad.
Dad:  Like me?
Lily:  Only his tongue can clean his whole nose.
Dad:  I couldn't clean my whole nose, could I.  And if I was going to clean my nose, I probably would not use my tongue.
Lily:  When he eats, he uses his teeth to go right into the skin by the bone and r-r-r-riiiip it out!  He has really sharp teeth.  And to show that they love each other, wolves bite each other.
Dad:  I love you, Lily.  I want to give you a nibble.
Lily:  Aagh!
Dad:  Why did you pick the wolf?
Lily:  Because I love him!  He's cute.  And I like his name.  Kinako... Kinako... my Kinako.  He's bad, but I love him.
Gracie:  I'm going to tell you about a vombatus ursinus.  A wombat.
Dad:  You guys really like looking at those scientific names, huh?
Gracie:  Yes.  I really do.  A wombat has a face like a koala, a body like a bear, and claws like a mole.  He's kind of cute.  Ish.  Except his nose.  His whole entire body fits on the page except for one tuffet of hair on his head.  When he's getting attacked, he just digs a hole and goes down in it.
Dad:  Why did you pick this one out?
Gracie:  Because he has a really big fancy scientific name.  And plus, I know nothing about wombats even though I often use the word "wombat" in everyday sentences.
Dad:  Give me an example.
Gracie:  "You are such a wombat, Lily!"
Dad:  You mean she's cute and cuddly?
Gracie:  I don't usually mean it like that.
Lily:  That's another insult!
Dad:  Elijah, you had an animal from this book that you wanted to share...
Elijah:  Okapi.
Dad:  What did you learn about the okapi?
Elijah:  Not just his legs look like a zebra, but his tail does too.
Dad:  He also has a fancy tongue.
Elijah:  He has a white tongue.  He can stick his whole tongue out to lick his eye.  (Holding up his hands) His tongue could be this big.
Dad:  Yes!  14 inches!
Elijah:  And he can use his tongue for getting leaves.
Dad:  What do you like about the picture?
Elijah:  He is white, brown, reddish brown, black, and red.
Dad:  Lots of colors on an okapi!  Thanks buddy!  Time for "Life-Size Aquarium..."  Lily?
Lily:  Dolphins talk with their foreheads!
Isaac:  Isn't it like sonar?
Dad:  They send out sound waves, right?
Lily:  Yeah.  And they listen with their chin part.  Under their mouth.  Their jaw.  Just the dolphin's head fits in the picture.  It's supposed to be life-size.
Gracie:  This is a japanese spider crab.  His scientific name is macrocheira kaempferi.
Lily:  I would be scared of him.
Gracie:  He's the largest crab in the world.  And he's got these little tentacles inside his mouth he uses to eat with, and they are always moving.  His eyes can bend too.
Dad:  I like all the textures and colors.
Gracie:  All red and pink and yellow.
Elijah:  He's really cool.  I would want to be him.  Only I wouldn't want to pinch anyone.  Unless they were very evil guys who will never be good guys again.
Dad:  Close us out, Isaac...
Isaac:  This is a clione.  Yes, I have never heard of them before.  It is a little fishy thing.  It's about an inch big.  And it is white and orange, and really see-through.  When it sees shellfishes, these six tentacles fly out of its mouth to catch them and eat them.
Dad:  So do the books only have giant life-size animals?
Isaac:  Nooo.  This one is very very very very small. But if I open the pages up, there is a big walrus behind it.  Putting them next to each other helps make the big animal seem bigger and the small one seem really teeny.  There are five cliones in the picture.  The book doesn't give them names.
Dad:  Why don't you name them...
Isaac:  This one is Augustas.  This one is Buddy.  These ones are Flippers, Mr. Giant, and W.
Dad:  So, who would like these books?
Lily:  Zoo lovers.  People that like monkeys.
Isaac:  Everyone would like them.  Unless they are scared of the zoo.
Gracie:  These books are good for people who heard their mothers say "We can go to the zoo tomorrow," and then the next day it rains.  They can check these books out of the library and it's just as good.
Isaac:  I guess if someone is scared of the zoo, they can get these books instead, and they will be completely safe.  So they are for everyone.

Batman the bat, by Isaac

Kou Kou the giant panda, by Gracie

Kinako the wolf, by Lily

Pippi the okapi, by Elijah

By: Teruyuki Komiya
Published, 2009-10: Seven Footer Press
Like them? Here they are

Review #82: Dotty

Dad:  What did you think of "Dotty"?
Isaac (age 12):  Is Dotty a cow?
Lily (age 7):  She's a bull.
Isaac:  She looks like a cow-lion.  Or a rhino-cow.
Gracie (age 10):  Dotty looks like a giant cow with purple horns and a lion's mane.  And she has dots all over.
Lily:  Dotty is an imaginary friend.  An imaginary pet.
Isaac:  The book is about a girl named Ida with a pet named Dotty that looks like a water buffalo.  I've decided that's the closest thing.
Lily:  Ida takes Dotty to school.  All the other kids in school have imaginary pets too.
Isaac:  Then they have a Christmas break, and most of the kids give up their pets.  A couple of kids still had them.  But then they have another break, and when Ida comes back, nobody even remembers their pets.  They think it's funny that Ida still has hers.
Lily:  Ida feels like a baby because she still has her imaginary friend.  Then Ida's imaginary pet bumped one of the girls that was making fun of Ida.
Dad:  Who do you think really pushed the girl?  Dotty or Ida?
Lily:  Ida did it and blamed it on her imaginary pet.
Isaac:  No.  I think Dotty really did it.
Gracie:  I think it's Ida, not the pet.  The book says the imaginary pets all have problems, but the kids are really the ones having the problems.  I'll show you...  See, that boy won't share.  It's not his pets - it's him that won't share.  And that girl right there is talking out of turn - not her pet.
Isaac:  I know that it's supposed to be the kids doing it...  But I like the idea better that the pets are doing it.  I think it's cool.
Dad:  So you choose to be like Ida...  to believe in the pets.
Isaac:  I LIKE the pets.
Dad:  Good!  Me too.
Lily:  Ida gets in trouble and has to go to the teacher's office.
Isaac:  The teacher asks Ida, "Do you want your blue leash back?"  But she accidentally gives her a red leash.  And the teacher says, "Oopsie. That's my leash."  And then she says, "Come on Gert," and the teacher had a leash that was tied to Gert.  Who is a giraffe... thing.  Like, a girraffe-pony-deer with stripes.
Lily: Then Ida feels okay because she knows someone else has an imaginary pet - someone that is way older than her.
Dad:  So, who is the author of this book?
Gracie:  Erica S. Perl.
Dad:  And what did you think of her story?
Gracie:  It's a good storyline.  It is imaginative and fun.  It's rocking.
Isaac:  It was a cool idea - it's like a whole other world, but still close enough to the real world that you don't notice.
Dad:  And who is the illustrator.
Gracie:  Julia Denos.
Dad:  And what did you think of her illustrations?
Gracie:  She has good fashion sense.
Lily:  The art is loose and sketchy.  It's awesome.  It looks like crayon, pencils, and paint.  It's a collage!
Dad:  Yep, that's called mixed-media.
Isaac:  I think she has a really good imagination in order to think of all these cool imaginary animals.  Most of the imaginary animals are kind of little, but the illustrator made Dotty bigger, so Dotty sticks out more than all the others.
Dad:  Wow - good point, Isaac!  And that ties into the story too.  Ida wants to forget about Dotty, but she can't.  Dotty is not a little fluffball that she can just shove into her pocket and ignore.
Gracie:  I like how the kids' clothes match their animals.  These two both have dots.  These guys both have stripes.  These guys have hats.  There's lots of good fashion in this book, so I like it.  Fashion is always important to me.
Dad:  A person wouldn't know that by looking at you today.
Gracie:  Yes they would.
Dad:  Maybe you and Julia Denos need to hang out and she can give you some pointers.
Gracie:  Dude!  My outfit is totally cute!
Isaac:  Uhhhh...
Dad:  I don't think mom would let you walk outside today like that.
Gracie:  I have wild fashion sense.
Dad:  Often you do quite well.  Today it looks like a buffalo-lion picked out your outfit.
Elijah (age 5):  I have a whole bunch of imaginary friends.
Dad:  Oh yeah!  Your imaginary kitty cat.
Elijah:  Oliana.
Gracie:  Elijah told me Oliana moved far, far away and can't visit anymore.
Elijah:  No.  She's here right now!  She did move away, but she can still visit a couple times.
Dad:  What does she look like?
Elijah:  She's an orange cat with stripes.  I have a whole bunch of imaginary friends.  Oliana.  And Hanker... he kind of looks like a hamster with horns.  Because he does have horns.  My biggest one is Manker.  He is an imaginary friend with wheels.  He's the biggest imaginary friend I have.
Isaac:  I never really had an imaginary friend.  I tried to.  But I could never really get into it.
Dad:  Who is your imaginary friend Lily?
Lily:  Liliana.
Dad:  That's the name of your second cousin.
Lily:  Yeah, but it's also the name of a girl who lives in Lilyland.  That's where my imaginary friends stay.
Dad:  Quite often we say, "Lily, you aren't here right now are you...  You are off in Lilyland."  You sort of zone out on a regular basis.
Lily:  Yeah.  When that happens, I'm usually playing with my imaginary friends.
Dad:  You guys are weirder than I thought.
Isaac:  Dad, you can take a photograph of my friend Mr. Fred.  Because he's not imaginary.
Gracie:  He doesn't move much.  He just stands in Isaac's room.
Dad:  And he freaks me out quite a bit.
Gracie:  He's a stuffed man Isaac built and hung on his coat rack.
Dad:  He just stares at me from behind his glasses and fuzzy beard.
Isaac:  He doesn't have glasses.  He has an eye patch.
Gracie:  Just a second.  Ensenta is talking to me.  (silent pause)  Are you done?  Okay.
Dad:  Ah, is Ensenta still around?
Gracie:  She's right here, only you can't see her.  She's pink with purple wings, giant eyes and a fuzzy mouth.
Dad:  What?  She used to be a kid.
Gracie:  She used to be a girl from Mexico.
Dad:  She changed?
Isaac:  Now she's a little poofball.
Dad:  I didn't know that.  She used to be a girl from Mexico who liked to drink milk.
Gracie:  Oh yeah!  She would drink my milk for me!
Dad:  That's the only time she showed up.  When Gracie didn't want to drink her milk.  So Ensenta would drink it.  This little imaginary Mexican girl.
Gracie:  Hee hee hee HAaaaaaaah!
Dad:  That's about all she did.  She never showed up unless milk was around.
Isaac:  Then Gracie got smarter when she got older.
Gracie:  Now Ensenta is allergic to milk.
Dad:  As a kid I didn't have an imaginary friend.  But I did have an invisible friend.  There's a big difference.
(confused silence from the kids)
Dad:  His name was Jonamacon.  And he would play Monopoly with me when no one else would.
(Gracie begins patting Dad on the back)
Dad:  Now that I think about it, that's kind of sad actually.
Kids:  (laughter)

Dotty, by Isaac

Elijah with Hanker and Manker, by Elijah

some inhabitants of Lilyland, by Lily

Gracie and Ensenta, by Gracie


Mr. Fred, by Isaac
(I often forget Mr. Fred is in the boys' room, and I've been startled a great number of times when passing by...)

Author: Erica S. Perl
Illustrator: Julia Denos
Published, 2010: Abrams
Like it? Here it is

Review #81: The Baby Sister

Isaac (age 12):  "The Baby Sister" by Tomie dePaola.
Dad:  Why did we decide to review this book for Bookie Woogie?
Gracie (age 10):  Because we are getting a baby sister!  We are!  We are!
Lily (age 7):  Girls are awesome.
Dad:  Now, here's something to notice.  What's the name of the boy in the book?
Gracie:  Tommy!
Dad:  And who made the book?
Gracie:  Tomie!
Dad:  What was the name of his baby sister in the book?
Gracie:  Maureen.
Dad:  And look at the book's dedication...
Gracie:  "For my sister, Maureen."
Isaac:  The book is the story of his life.
Lily:  I love it.  The story is about a boy who is getting a baby.
Gracie:  A boy named Tommy.  When his mommy tells him he's getting a baby, he says "Mommy, may I please have a little sister with a red ribbon in her hair?"
Lily:  Tommy is waiting and waiting and waiting, excited for the baby.
Isaac:  While they are waiting, they had to set up the baby's room.  And Tommy drew some pictures for the baby.
Gracie:  Then his mom goes away to the hospital.
Lily:  Tommy was sad because his mommy was gone.
Dad:  Are you going to be sad when your Mommy is at the hospital for a few days?  We'll be eating a lot of omelets and oatmeal over here.
Isaac:  Aagh!
Dad:  That's all I ever cook.
Isaac:  Hopefully Grammy or Nana will be coming.
Gracie:  Tommy's mom was home before he knew it.  And they are happy.
Lily:  Woohoo!  Woohoo!
Isaac:  And we are going to leave the ending a surprise.  I'm not going to tell you if it's a baby boy or girl.
Gracie:  It's a girl with a red ribbon in her hair.
Isaac:  Hey!  You just ruined it!
Dad:  Ruined the whole story... because it's called "The Baby Sister."
Isaac:  It is?  Oh!  Ho!  Dear.
Dad:  I think Tomie dePaola gave away the end of the story.
Isaac:  Bad Tomie dePaola.
Dad:  Not that long ago, people had to wait until their babies were born to find out if they were boys or girls.
Isaac:  Did you know what I was going to be?
Dad:  Yep.  The only kid we didn't know about was Gracie.  In the ultrasound she was sitting cross-legged like a stubborn little lump and wouldn't move for anything.
Gracie:  Even before I came out, I was a stinker.
Isaac:  What did Tomie dePaola use for the art?  Watercolor?
Dad:  I think so.  It's definitely a transparent paint of some kind.  Not opaque.
Isaac:  "Opaque."
Dad:  That's a good word to learn.
Isaac:  Opaque.  Opaque.
Dad:  You know what "transparent" means...
Isaac:  See-through-y.
Dad:  Yep.  With transparent paint, if you laid down yellow paint on top of dry blue, it would turn green.  You'd see through the yellow and the colors would mix together.
Gracie:  The paints in this book are transparent.
Dad:  But with opaque paint, if you put yellow over blue, it would just look like yellow paint sitting on top of blue paint.  You wouldn't see through.
Isaac:  Opaque.  Opaque.  Opaque.
Dad:  Let me tell you what I love about this particular book.  Now, there are lots of books about new babies coming...
Isaac:  There are?
Dad:  Yeah - you might not know that because we don't get many.  Most books about new babies have kids saying things like, "I don't want a new baby!  Mommy doesn't have time for me anymore!  I'm going to run away!  I'm going to give the baby away to a zoo!  I wanted a brother, but I got a sister!"
Gracie:  I don't like those books.
Dad:  I would bet if you randomly picked 10 books about new babies, 9 out of the 10 would be about upset older siblings.  Or maybe even all 10 out of a random selection.
Isaac:  Not if this one was one of the 10.
Dad:  Right.  It's very rare that you find books with kids who are happy about new babies coming.  So, what about you guys?  When new babies come to our house -- and that's happened quite a few times...
Isaac:  Especially for me.
Dad:  Are you guys ever upset about a new baby coming?
Gracie:  No way!
Dad:  See, so I would never want to put ideas in your head otherwise.  I like this one because it presents it pleasantly.
Isaac:  Look - that baby in the book has enough hair to have a pigtail already.
Gracie:  How does a newborn baby have so much hair?  Our sister Evie is still pretty bald.
Dad:  Yeah, the baby in the book has more hair than Evie has grown in 3 years!
Lily:  I want our new baby to have a blue ribbon in her hair.
Isaac:  She might have even less hair.  It keeps going lower and lower with each kid.
Lily:  But what if she's the one with the most hair?  It's possible.
Dad:  Watch her come out like a furry beast.
Gracie:  Ha hah!
Dad:  So, tell everyone what we've been calling our baby while she's inside...
Gracie:  "Puggle."
Dad:  And how do you guys feel about baby Puggle coming?
Gracie:  YEEEEAAAAY!
Lily:  Excited, even though the baby is probably going to be crying a lot.
Gracie:  I'm pretty excited.  I get to hold the little... thing.  The little person.  Little tiny person.
Dad:  So Isaac, this is old hat for you.  This is the fifth sibling you've watched come along.  You could probably write a book yourself about all this.
Isaac:  Very easily.
Dad:  Which is the first baby you can remember?  How far back?
Isaac:  Lily.
Gracie:  When Lily came, you made us all wear gas masks.
Dad:  Not gas masks.  Hospital masks.  Because you and Isaac were horribly sick.
Lily:  This is a good book for people who are getting a baby.  It helps you learn about getting a baby.
Dad:  Is there anything in this book that reminds you of our experience with Puggle so far?
Gracie:  I felt the baby move.
Isaac:  I didn't get to feel that until two days ago.  She was a stinker.  Whenever Mom said "Everybody come -- she's moving!" ...by the time I put my hand on her, she'd stop.
Dad:  Is there anything you can do to help get ready like Tommy did?
Isaac:  Building the crib with Dad.  Right Dad?
Gracie:  And we can draw pictures for the baby.
Dad:  Last thing: What should we name this baby?
Lily:  We are having a girl.
Dad:  So should we name our baby Maureen like in the book?
Gracie:  Let's name it Olive.
Dad:  We've been discussing the same few names for months now...
Gracie:  Zion, Sparrow, and Olive.
Dad:  Olivet.
Gracie:  No, Olive.
Dad:  Well, Olive is a choice too.  Olivet, Olive, Sparrow, and Zion.  Everybody tell me what your vote is.
Gracie:  Olive.
Lily:  I want it to be Sparrowwwwwww!
Dad:  Why do you like Sparrow?
Lily:  Because it comes from the same kind of Bible verses that have "Lily" in them.
Gracie:  Then you guys would be buddies.  But I like Olive.
Isaac:  I like Zion.  But that one got eliminated already.
Dad:  Not necessarily.  Why do you like that one?
Isaac:  It's just a cool name.  Zion Zenz.
Dad:  I know!!  I love it!
Isaac:  Zion Zenz!
Dad:  People get all weirded out by the Z's, but I love it precisely because of the multiple Z's.  No one flips out about "Julie Jaeger."  Or "Eric Emmons."  Why are Z's any different?
Lily:  But why would you name a baby girl Zion?
Gracie:  I think it's a boy name.
Dad:  Last year's Caldecott winner "Lion and the Mouse" is dedicated to his "great-granddaughter Zion Noel."
Lily: (singing)  The lion and the mouse - is about a mouse - who got trapped by a lion...
Dad:  So it even has some literary connection.  Faint connection.
Gracie:  I vote for Olive.
Dad:  And my favorite is Olivet.  So we have a four way tie!
Gracie:  If we name it Olivet, I'm calling it Olive.  Mom likes Olive.
Dad:  Actually, Mom just threw another name into the mix.  Just yesterday.
Gracie:  What?
Dad:  The new one she's thinking about is Magdalene.
Lily:  Bahhhh!
Isaac:  I like it.  I like Zion better, but Magdalene is a good name.  I really really like all of the choices.
(little brother Elijah walks over)
Dad:  Hey!  Elijah is the tie breaker!  Mom wants "Magdalene," I want "Olivet," Gracie wants "Olive," Lily wants "Sparrow," and Isaac wants "Zion."  So...
Gracie:  Which one?!
Dad:  You get to break the tie!  What's it going to be?
Lily:  Sparrow, Sparrow, Sparrow...
Gracie:  Olive, Olive!
Isaac:  Zion Zenz!
Dad:  Elijah, break the tie for us...

Tense silence, and then:

Elijah (age 5):  Sparrovet!
Dad:  Sparrovet?  Oh dear.
Isaac:  Magdo-zio-sparro-vet!
Dad:  Alright...  Well, I guess we'll find out soon!

Tommy paints a picture for the baby, by Isaac

Tommy and Maureen, by Gracie

Baby Maureen grows up, by Lily

Author/Illustrator: Tomie dePaola
Published, 1996: Putnam
Like it? Here it is



Update:  We recorded this review back in November.  One month later, on December 25, 2010 (yes, Christmas afternoon!) the lovely Magdalena Bell Zenz wiggled her way into our arms!  Welcome to the world Magdalena!

Grace, Evangeline, Magdalena, Isaac, Elijah, and Lily
(and yep, she's as bald as a boiled egg under that hat...)