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What's New at the Zoo? An Animal Adding Adventure
Come along on an animal adding adventure. Add baby animals to the adults to see how many there are all together. And while you are at it, learn what some of the zoo animals eat or what the baby animals are called.
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First published June 1, 2009
1 person is currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Slade
171 books129 followersSibert honoree author of more than 150 books for chlldren.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 13, 2013
My four-year-old son checked this book out from the library this week.
This is a good book. Maybe even a very good book. But not quite a great book.
I like that the "story" takes place at a zoo. Kids always love zoo animals. I like that it is a counting and an addition book -- it's a fun way to introduce kids to the concept of addition. The text is pretty well-written, although a bit clunky in places. And the illustrations are mostly well-done, except for when it is hard to spot some of the animals (bats, I'm talking to you).
Addition books are great. Seek-and-find books are great. But an addition book should NOT turn into a seek-and-find book. If the kids can't spot the animals right away, they become confused when their number is different from the real answer and they lose interest, and the concept of the addition is lost.
This is a good book. Maybe even a very good book. But not quite a great book.
I like that the "story" takes place at a zoo. Kids always love zoo animals. I like that it is a counting and an addition book -- it's a fun way to introduce kids to the concept of addition. The text is pretty well-written, although a bit clunky in places. And the illustrations are mostly well-done, except for when it is hard to spot some of the animals (bats, I'm talking to you).
Addition books are great. Seek-and-find books are great. But an addition book should NOT turn into a seek-and-find book. If the kids can't spot the animals right away, they become confused when their number is different from the real answer and they lose interest, and the concept of the addition is lost.
May 10, 2021
Title: What’s New at the Zoo?
Author: Suzanne Slade
Illustrator: Joan Waites
Genre: Fiction, Math
Theme(s): Addition
Opening line/sentence: “Let’s go on an animal adventure, how many live in the zoo? We’ll add up each creature-moms, dads, and their new babies, too!”
Brief Book Summary: This book takes a walk around the zoo, adding up different animals and their babies.
Response to Two Professional Reviews: Booklist wrote that the game made addition more of a game than a chore. I completely agree, I think that learning about new animals will also make learning addition easier. Kirkus Reviews wrote that this would be a perfect part of a classroom library, and I agree. Maybe at older ages, students would be able to read and count/add on their own.
Tell Me Framework:
Like(s): I like the visuals to aid the adding.
Dislike(s): There is nothing I dislike about this book.
Patterns(s): I somewhat dislike that some of the names of the animals make the word problems harder to understand, for example, I didn’t know what a peahen was, and it did not sound like an animal.
Puzzle(s): I wonder if students will be able to see past of some of the complicated names.
Consideration of Instructional Application: I would of course do a read aloud with this book. At each problem, I would read out the equation, then count each animal while labeling them to demonstrate simple addition. I would count the way the book lists them, so if it was four adult monkeys each with a baby monkey, and the problem was 4+4, I would first count all of the adults then the babies.
Author: Suzanne Slade
Illustrator: Joan Waites
Genre: Fiction, Math
Theme(s): Addition
Opening line/sentence: “Let’s go on an animal adventure, how many live in the zoo? We’ll add up each creature-moms, dads, and their new babies, too!”
Brief Book Summary: This book takes a walk around the zoo, adding up different animals and their babies.
Response to Two Professional Reviews: Booklist wrote that the game made addition more of a game than a chore. I completely agree, I think that learning about new animals will also make learning addition easier. Kirkus Reviews wrote that this would be a perfect part of a classroom library, and I agree. Maybe at older ages, students would be able to read and count/add on their own.
Tell Me Framework:
Like(s): I like the visuals to aid the adding.
Dislike(s): There is nothing I dislike about this book.
Patterns(s): I somewhat dislike that some of the names of the animals make the word problems harder to understand, for example, I didn’t know what a peahen was, and it did not sound like an animal.
Puzzle(s): I wonder if students will be able to see past of some of the complicated names.
Consideration of Instructional Application: I would of course do a read aloud with this book. At each problem, I would read out the equation, then count each animal while labeling them to demonstrate simple addition. I would count the way the book lists them, so if it was four adult monkeys each with a baby monkey, and the problem was 4+4, I would first count all of the adults then the babies.
March 27, 2018
he book “What’s new at the Zoo” by Suzanne Slade, is another children's math book that is for young learners. Following a young boy around the Zoo, the boy sees numerous different animals and turns them into math questions. The text is set up as a word problem that a student may see, and on the other side had the number sentence that is needed to solve the problem. One critique that can be placed on this book is that although these may be animals that you find at the zoo, the language that is used in the word questions could be simpler because it may cause confusion in a young classroom. For example using the word neonates when referring to baby boas would need to be taught before the book is read and used as a lesson.
August 12, 2025
A child visits the zoo. They see lots of animals with animal babies. Can they add the adults and babies together to figure out how many of each animal they see? The back of the book includes other extension activities.
This story has readers practicing to add numbers that equal up to 20 (all the animals together add up to 100). The book also introduces what juveniles of various animals are called, some of which I hadn’t heard before. Do you know what the name of a baby boa is? I liked the artwork which makes the animals come to life in a style that easily translates to recognizing the animals in real life.
This story has readers practicing to add numbers that equal up to 20 (all the animals together add up to 100). The book also introduces what juveniles of various animals are called, some of which I hadn’t heard before. Do you know what the name of a baby boa is? I liked the artwork which makes the animals come to life in a style that easily translates to recognizing the animals in real life.
April 25, 2021
Asks children to figure out the sum of various zoo animal adults and their young. My four-year-old did a surprisingly good job telling me the totals and rarely had to count them to arrive at the answer.
March 14, 2024
The illustrations are gorgeous, but finding the animals that you're supposed to be counting isn't always easy. A decent, but not outstanding, addition to a story time on animals, zoos, or counting - just don't do every single spread, the kids will get bored.
June 6, 2021
Decent concept
January 9, 2022
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June 29, 2009
What’s New At The Zoo? – A Review
Title: What’s New t the Zoo?
Author: Suzanne Slade
Illustrator; Joan Waites
Reading Level: 4-8
Publisher: Sylvan Dell Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-934359-93-8 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-1-607180-38-8 (pbk.)
What’s New at the Zoo? takes the reader on an animal adding adventure. This learning zoo adventure begins: “Two hungry pandas eat a bamboo lunch. One cub joins the meal. How many crunch and munch? 2 + 1 = ?” Through delightful rhyming text and numerals Ms. Slade creates a wonderfully engaging learning experience for children. Each page offers a new addition problem.
Within the rhyming text Ms. Slade cleverly weaves information about animals and the names of the baby animals pictured. Did you know that a baby mammoth boa is called a neonate? But that’s not all: the illustrations are striking - they are vivid, realistic and elaborate. Children will love reading this entertaining and educational picture book, in fact, they may not even realize they’re learning in the process.
An added feature to this book is the “For Creative Minds” and “Animal Matching Activity” educational section in the back. It offers additional math problems and solutions as well as information on the animals mentioned in the book. It also explains the differences in the animal classes: mammals, birds and reptiles, and asks the reader to put each of the animals shown within the book into their correct class.
I read this book to my three-year-old grand son. He said his favorite part was the picture with the peacocks. I then had my eight-year-old great nephew read it to me while answering the addition questions. They both enjoyed this book as will all children within the intended age group and even those a little younger. I highly recommend What’s New at the Zoo?
About the author: Suzanne Slade is the author of over 60 books for children. Her works include picture books, and biographies, as well as many non-fiction titles about animals, sports, insects, planets, and various science topics. During an earlier engineering career, she worked on Delta rockets and designed automotive braking systems. Ms. Slade lives near Chicago with her husband, two children, and their tiny dog, Corduroy.
About the illustrator: Joan Waites spent 15 years as a neo-natal intensive care nurse prior to studying illustration and launching her freelance career. In addition to What’s New at the Zoo? Joan has illustrated nearly 40 books for the educational and trade marketplace. She is also an adjunct member of The Corcoran Museum School of Arts and Design in Washington, DC, where she teaches various children’s classes for the college’s Aspiring Artists programs.
Karen Cioffi
Reviewer for BookPleasures.com
Title: What’s New t the Zoo?
Author: Suzanne Slade
Illustrator; Joan Waites
Reading Level: 4-8
Publisher: Sylvan Dell Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-934359-93-8 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-1-607180-38-8 (pbk.)
What’s New at the Zoo? takes the reader on an animal adding adventure. This learning zoo adventure begins: “Two hungry pandas eat a bamboo lunch. One cub joins the meal. How many crunch and munch? 2 + 1 = ?” Through delightful rhyming text and numerals Ms. Slade creates a wonderfully engaging learning experience for children. Each page offers a new addition problem.
Within the rhyming text Ms. Slade cleverly weaves information about animals and the names of the baby animals pictured. Did you know that a baby mammoth boa is called a neonate? But that’s not all: the illustrations are striking - they are vivid, realistic and elaborate. Children will love reading this entertaining and educational picture book, in fact, they may not even realize they’re learning in the process.
An added feature to this book is the “For Creative Minds” and “Animal Matching Activity” educational section in the back. It offers additional math problems and solutions as well as information on the animals mentioned in the book. It also explains the differences in the animal classes: mammals, birds and reptiles, and asks the reader to put each of the animals shown within the book into their correct class.
I read this book to my three-year-old grand son. He said his favorite part was the picture with the peacocks. I then had my eight-year-old great nephew read it to me while answering the addition questions. They both enjoyed this book as will all children within the intended age group and even those a little younger. I highly recommend What’s New at the Zoo?
About the author: Suzanne Slade is the author of over 60 books for children. Her works include picture books, and biographies, as well as many non-fiction titles about animals, sports, insects, planets, and various science topics. During an earlier engineering career, she worked on Delta rockets and designed automotive braking systems. Ms. Slade lives near Chicago with her husband, two children, and their tiny dog, Corduroy.
About the illustrator: Joan Waites spent 15 years as a neo-natal intensive care nurse prior to studying illustration and launching her freelance career. In addition to What’s New at the Zoo? Joan has illustrated nearly 40 books for the educational and trade marketplace. She is also an adjunct member of The Corcoran Museum School of Arts and Design in Washington, DC, where she teaches various children’s classes for the college’s Aspiring Artists programs.
Karen Cioffi
Reviewer for BookPleasures.com
Read
October 10, 2018Fun for preschoolers and engaging for Kindergartners. There are multiple ways to enjoy the layers to this picture book. I love that at each stop, the reader is asked to count - and is aided by a math problem written in numbers. Many of the animals are ones you would expect to see but what sets this apart, though, is that you meet each animal family and learn the name of what a baby ___ is called.
Read our full review and add yours at the Reading Tub.
Read our full review and add yours at the Reading Tub.
June 4, 2010
A visit to the zoo becomes a numerical adventure. Rhyming word problems about the animals need solutions. How many animals are at the zoo? Read your way through and solve the problems to get the final count.
What I thought: A fun and educational book. Not only does it teach adding skills, readers also learn about the different zoo animals. The illustrations were realistic. I liked the page borders. They added definition and interest.
Story Time Themes: Numbers, Counting, Baby Sit & Sign emphasis on numbers
What I thought: A fun and educational book. Not only does it teach adding skills, readers also learn about the different zoo animals. The illustrations were realistic. I liked the page borders. They added definition and interest.
Story Time Themes: Numbers, Counting, Baby Sit & Sign emphasis on numbers
June 28, 2010
This was pretty nice for us at this time because Julia is intense about learning math. She's pretty much mastered one digit addition in her head and is working on one digit subtraction in her head. This goes, slightly, into double digits and I think it was a nice introduction for her. It made her want to do it because it seemed fun.
Any kids that loves animals and is starting to count will probably enjoy this for awhile.
Any kids that loves animals and is starting to count will probably enjoy this for awhile.
September 18, 2014
Positive - Kids will love the beautifully depicted zoo animals and also learn some new vocabulary for baby animals.
Negative - Counting the animals is a bit more challenging as it is hard to separate the groups and some of the animals are difficult to locate.
Bonus - The activities at the back of the book are first-rate and take the math learning potential to a much higher level. Good strategy suggestions!
Negative - Counting the animals is a bit more challenging as it is hard to separate the groups and some of the animals are difficult to locate.
Bonus - The activities at the back of the book are first-rate and take the math learning potential to a much higher level. Good strategy suggestions!
April 11, 2013
Grade Level(s): K-2
* Teaches students addition strategies
* Can be used for an integrated studies lesson for a science unit on animals
* Discuss with students what animals are commonly found in the zoo.
* Have students write and illustrate a short story about a visit to the use, and have them incorporate addition math sentences into their stories.
* Uses rhyming words (math-literacy lesson)
* Teaches students addition strategies
* Can be used for an integrated studies lesson for a science unit on animals
* Discuss with students what animals are commonly found in the zoo.
* Have students write and illustrate a short story about a visit to the use, and have them incorporate addition math sentences into their stories.
* Uses rhyming words (math-literacy lesson)
January 27, 2012
Mostly simple (one digit) addition, with some forays into double digits. Word problem rhymes introduce the animal names, and the back has nice additional material suggesting ways to further the learning.
May 12, 2016
When I read it to the class, I put post it notes over the equations and have the kids try to formulate it on their own using white boards, afterwards, I allowed the students to take the post its off to reveal the answer.
February 25, 2010
Goes into some double digit addition.
March 1, 2011
The book has colorful pages that shows different animals at the zoo. However, its focus is on adding numbers using the illustrations.
November 25, 2015
This book is really good example for both counting and poetry so can be used for cross curricular learning.
Read
April 28, 2016Great picture book for math and helping students learn to count as well as new animals.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews