My School's a Zoo!

by Stu Smith, David Catrow

Every school has its share of bookworms. Some schools have bugs in their computers. And lots of schools have spelling bees. But this school has bears. This school has owls. This school is a ZOO! Imagination runs wild in this fun-filled story about a school packed with pythons, teeming with tigers, and swimming with starfish. Stu Smith's lively text and David Catrow's hilarious art will have kids looking at school -- and words -- in a whole new way!

Genres: Picture Books, School, Childrens, Animals, Poetry, Fantasy, Back To School

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

An imaginative, lively illustrated story about a young boy who wakes up to find everyone is a zoo animal. His parents and sister, the bus driver and the students, even the teacher and the librarian. Did the trip to the zoo the day before turn everyone into zoo animals? At the end of his school day, everyone turns back to normal, even his little sister. The boy wonders if everyone will turn into dinosaurs after the class field trip to the Dinosaur Museum?

The text rhymes. The illustrations are colorful and chaotic, filled with different animals from pythons to worms to star fishes to a yak and a bear. There is so much to look at with the illustrations and to read with the rhyming text. This book is bound to be a delightful story for young readers, kindergarten and up.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We just love David Catrow's illustrations. One of our favorite books that he's illustrated is I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont; we are always looking for more of his books at our local library.

In honor of the 100th day of school, we thought we'd read some more school-themed books and this one looked like it would be an entertaining read.

The rhyming narrative is silly and fun to read aloud, but the crazy animal-themed illustrations were the highlight of the book. The story is quite bizarre, but we love how the story is absurd, yet makes sense, for example, book worms in the library. Overall, it's a humorous tale and we enjoyed reading it together.

[Maggie Cook]

Title: My School’s A Zoo

Author: Stu Smith

Illustrator: David Catrow

Type of Book (format and literary genre): Picture Book/Fantasy

Awards the book has received (national): None

Short original summary of the main plot, describe the content and themes of the book: Yesterday theyw went to the zoo on a field trip. The next day the boy wakes up to go to school, everything is different. Everyone was turned into zoo animals. At breakfast his parents and sister were zoo animals. On the bus the driver and other children were zoo animals. And at school everyone all the teachers and students were zoo animals. Did the field trip do this to them? But by the time the day is over and the boy gets back home everyone is back to normal. But what’s going to happen after the field trip to the dinosaur museum next week?

Critique the book backed by one reason: The illustrations in this book were great. They are very colorful and brilliant. The images in the book really portray the chaos and confusion going on throughout the day. The illustrations really match the story taking place.

Prompts or questions you could pose when reading the book aloud to children:
1. Who turned into animals? What animals did they turn into?
2. Why do you think he saw the animals in the places he did? Did the author do it on purpose? Or is it just random?
3. Did people really turn into animals?
4. What do you think will happen after the trip to the dinosaur museum next week?

Craft elements of the book that could be addressed in a reading or writing lesson: The book ends with the boy wondering fi the same sort of thing will happen after his class’s trip to the zoo the next week. Have students write a story about what they think will happen after the museum if the same sort of thing were to happen?

[Lashae Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author used the aspect of a sense of place in a playful manner. Every sentence was the illustrating the environment the story was taking place. The author was describing the characters, the room, and the objects inside each room the main character was in at the moment.I think the author did well at creating a fake reality of the school really being a zoo. There was not one thing that was left unturned and not illustrated well in the book. If there were not any school material present the place would have really been a zoo. I think the author did well for the intended readers to be young children. The bright colors and colorful language keeps them engage. I would have hoped for more of a focus plot, but I am assuming that the theme of zoo animals was appropriate for children. I could have my students draw illustrations to represent their story and theme.

[Cassidy Reed]

The school has turned into a zoo and one student does not know what to do. The bus driver is a monkey, the teacher is a bear, and there are different zoo animals in every room at school. Things seemed to be rather strange that entire day for the student until arriving home and getting off of the bus at the end of that day. Everything was suddenly back to normal.

I liked this book because it was funny and the illustrations were my favorite part. Each page was very detailed and colorful.

I think that students would like this book because of the humor and the animals. I think it would cause them to think about what their school would be like as a "zoo". This might be a good book to read before or after going on a class field trip to the zoo.

[Courtney Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

My School’s A Zoo is written by Stu Smith. This book is about a little boy who visits the zoo and from then on, his entire world is consumed and inhabited by animals. This is a wacky and imaginative tale that the students will love. The illustrations are just as creative and wacky as the text is explaining. Ordinary situations for the boy are flipped upside down to make these crazy situations and series of events. Just as the little boy’s world starts to return to normal, he is planned to take a trip to the dinosaur museum the next Friday! This book is a fun read and would keep anyone’s attention.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is worth checking out for the illustrations alone. This is the same illustrator who did Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon and I Like Myself!. The vibrant colors and and playful characters make this book jump to life. The narration is written in rhyme, and the story itself is left open for some interpretation. This is a fun read-aloud/GLTA for a younger student.

[Maylee Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story! It was so cute and catchy with rhymes and such great illustrations! I believe kids will love reading this book, and it will work perfectly for a field trip to the zoo or a lesson about animals!

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Find out what happens when it seems everyone at school is an animal from the zoo- even the adults.

[Miss Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Find out what happens when it seems everyone at school is an animal from the zoo- even the adults.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book it is so funny l almost peed my pants of laughing all my friends love this book to! - from Miss Sam and Corbyn

[Leah G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story, but I’m not a fan of the illustrations.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun rhyming book about how school changes once the class visits the zoo. The illustrations are spot on for this crazy story. It’s one that will be on constant rotation.

[Annie Ostlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little odd at first but turned out to be a great book. It shows us to not judge people and to get to know them first.

[Yaneth]

i love the art style and i know the artist has done more that i liked more but i just didn't really love this story

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good rhymes and rhythm. I found some of the illustrations really appropriate but others didn't hit for me. Nonetheless it was pretty good.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and silly beginning of the year book.

[René · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'imagination fertile - ou le rêve d'un enfant, ce qui est souvent du pareil au même.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny book

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eli really liked it.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an imaginative and fun little book. I was entertained by the odd assortment of creatures that inhabited the school and how some of the characteristics of the animals were similar to the people they were portraying. I liked the illustrations as well. I would probably recommend.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2010...

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following a field trip to the zoo, a boy wakes up to find that everyone in his world has turned into an animal. His day begins with breakfast with a zebra and rhino (his parents). At school, he sees lions in the lunchroom and hyenas on the playground. When things return to normal, he begins to worry about the next field trip: a visit to a dinosaur display.

Audience/Age Level:
Instructional Ideas:

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book would be so great to read to children on the first day of school. This would be such a good way to break the ice and get the children to start warming up to you and to each other with a little bit of laughter. Children can let their imaginations run wild with this book, and some might dream about things like this happening at night when they are sleeping. It has the most wonderful, vibrant illustrations which is something that every child can relate to. Very good!

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 80676 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 3.0 - AR Pts: 0.5
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP

So funny! I love the rhyme and rhythm of this story. It moves so smoothly page to page making listening and reading fun. This would be a great introduction to poetry to get the students thinking about what makes the story rhyme and how the author created the rhythm.

[Amanda Denter · Rating 4 out of 5]

My School’s a Zoo is an interesting book with a lot of zoo animals in it. The young boy went to the zoo and then imagined all the animals as the teacher and principal at his school. He described his teacher as a bear and the school nurse as a bat all through rhyme. At the end of the story he realized it was his imagination playing tricks on him and bore did the bus. This was a very good way of displaying the powers of the imagination.

[April Castle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This rhyming picture/poetry book tells about a class that went to the zoo and a boys imagination is running wild in school. He sees the animals from the zoo throughout his school. This book creates a outrageous scenes about zoo animals in schools. It may however be seen as stereotyping characters in the book and poking fun at others. Not the best book to use in school.

[Gustavo Garcia II · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fun and interesting. It is written in a narrative and humorous poetic style. It really captures the wild imagination of a child. The young boy in the story had just come from a field trip to the zoo. During the net day, everyone was some sort of zoo animal in his eyes. This book is great for all children and would make a great contribution to any classroom library.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining rhyming tale about something nor being quite right in as zoo animals and other creatures appear to take over the school. The illustrations were vivid, interesting and really flowed with this rhyming tale. It would've been nice if the book was a little bigger to appeal to the illustrations. This would make a great storybook for older preschool/early kindergartener age range.

[Jennifer Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagination runs wild in this book. At a little boys school there are animals everywhere instead of students and teachers. There are bears, pythons, tigers, etc. Kids would love reading this book. Awesome illustrates to go with it.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the creativity and the puns throughout the book. Sadly my kids never saw them, and did not enjoyed it as much as I did. I would not mind rereading this book to the end of the school year. For anyone working with kids, get this book. You will enjoy every page of this book.