You Can't See a Dodo at the Zoo

by Fred Ehrlich, Amanda Haley (Illustrations)

This title in the much-praised You Can't . . . series explores the who-why-and-how-come of animal endangerment and extinction. Amanda Haley's illustrations are both funny and informative, guaranteed to make kids smile. Why can't you see a dodo at the zoo? Or a woolly mammoth, or a fierce T-rex? With humor and clear, detailed explanations, this title in the acclaimed You Can't . . . series describes what happened to many extinct animals and why other animals are now endangered.

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Caterpickles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Five-Year-Old enjoyed this book more than I did. I was put off by the illustrations and Comic Sans-like font. But she didn’t mind those and focused on the content, soaking up everything Ehrlich would tell her about the various animals and why they are either endangered or extinct. And that’s something this book is really rather good at.

[Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really like the premise of this book. I think it's important to educate children about endangered species, habitat destruction and the dangers of feral animals. This book starts with the long extinct dinosaurs, then moves on to extinct birds such as the dodo and moa. It was in the endangered species chapter that our author (and illustrator) come a-cropper with some rather egregious errors that are very obvious to even a casual Australian reader. A Tasmanian Devil is not the same as a Tasmanian Tiger, they are rather fearsome, and I've never heard of anyone having them as a pet despite the authors claim that ""when raised by humans they can make good pets."" The illustrator has clearly drawn two pictures depicting Tasmanian Tigers, not Devils. And although this book is relatively recent (2005) there is no mention of the Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease that is the biggest threat to the survival of this species. The confusion continues when we get to the Thylacine, which is said to be aka Tasmanian Wolf. I've never heard it refered to as such, although I just checked wikipaedia and it has the reference. There is no picture of a thylacine possibly because the illustrator has already made thylacines into devils? All quite confusing. However I did learn that we have a National Thylacine Day (Sept 7 for those who didn't know like me) to commemorate the death of the last known Thylacine in Hobart zoo on 7 Sept 1936. The rest of the book seems ok, but it's impossible not to have doubts about the facts in the rest of it when the Tasmanian stuff is so wrong.

[Natalie Brockmeier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This being my only informational book, I did enjoy it. I thought this book brought a really relatable approach to the idea of extinction, which too me seems to be a pretty abstract idea for students. I think that this book does a pretty good job of introducing these extinct animals and what happened to them.
I would use this book as part of an animal unit, specifically dinosaurs or other commonly known extinct animals. The enrichment aspect of this book comes in the read aloud when there are little choral refrains after each animal's section that I could either have the class repeat and chant back to me or have each students the opportunity to read in front of the class.
We could also discuss ways to prevent anymore endangered animals from becoming extinct, and we could learn from the mistakes of people in the past.
The language of this is hard but mainly because the names of the actual species are difficult, so I think that this book would be good for grades 2-5.

[Shala Howell · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 4 yr old daughter enjoyed this book more than I did. I was put off by the illustrations and Comic Sans-like font. But she didn't mind those and focused on the content, soaking up everything Ehrlich would tell her about the various animals and why they are either endangered or extinct. Which this book is really rather good at.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too many words for my 3-year-old, but I would like to try it again around age 5 or 6.

[Sarah May · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I do not recommend the "science" in this book, it did start some interesting conversations with my 4-year old.

[Lynne Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really more like a chapter book than a picture book. Has fun poems, mini poems and info about super interesting extinct animals -- really fun and informative!