Peculiar Zoo

by Barry Louis Polisar, David Clark (Illustrator)

Written entirely in verse, Peculiar Zoo is filled with intriguing facts about an extraordinary array of uncommon animals from Dik-Diks to Zebus. Young readers will discover the Numbat, who has more teeth than any other animal, but swallows his food whole; the Proboscis Monkey with its long nose that it must move out of the way in order to eat; and the Naked Mole Rat, who is pictured stretched out on a divan, shielding herself with feathers. Featured in Ranger Rick Nature Magazine in a special two page spread, this bestiary goes far beyond “A is for Ant and B is for Bear” and ventures into a delightful world of truly exotic and unusual animals. Barry’s witty and thought provoking poems were featured on Barbara Bush’s national radio show on ABC, Mrs. Bush’s Story Time and introduce children to some of the oddest creatures in the animal kingdom–including many rare and endangered species.

Genres: Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Stacey Giglio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "Peculiar Zoo" by Barry Louis Polisar was a unique informative poetry book and reminded me of a Dr. Seuss type of story but with factual information. The book does a great job of taking "peculiar" information about rare animals and putting them into rhyme "A numbat is an animal with An interesting feature; It has more teeth than any Other zoologic creature." The illustrations by David Clark helped to bring these rare animals and their distinct features to life. A great book for K-5. I think children of all ages will enjoy the language and exposure to these special members of the animal kingdom, especially the naked mole rat!
This book would be a wonderful accompaniment to science and language arts lessons combined. Students could research rare and/or unusual local animals after reading the "Peculiar Zoo". They could then transfer this information into an essay that could be read aloud and shared with the class. This would also increase their word building skills by exposing them to descriptions of animals they might not have seen in their independent or instructional readings. Art could be integrated into this lesson by having students draw the animal that they were able to research. This would be a great way to bring their writings to life. We could then display the essays and drawings around the room.

[Brianna Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Poetry book

Reading Level: Late early- early transitional: ages 5-8

Topics and Themes: This book uses poetry to teach about animals. It uses humor to describe a particular detail about the animal.

Curricular Use: Read Aloud or guided reading

Social: This book can be a great way to discuss differences. Each poem is about a different animal and a characteristic that makes it unique. Just like the students in our classroom, each animal is different from all the others.

Literary Element: Humor is used in every poem. The author uses humor and irony to create funny poems about animals with odd characteristics.

Text and Illustrations: The author creates humorous poems describing a characteristic about an animal. The illustrations go along with the text because they over-exaggerate the animal's characteristic.

[Julia Jasztal · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Mommy's review from 9/23/10)


This is one of the very few kids books I can honestly give five stars too. The first reason why is I love rhyming text and these rhymes are pretty cool. The second reason is because this isn't filled with your average animals like bears, fish, snakes, and bats. Here we have okapi, caiman lizards, dik-diks, and more. The most well known animals include a manatee, an armadillo, a warthog and an emperor penguin.
I have to hand it to the author - not going with the norm certainly worked here. The illustrations are pretty good too. Julia and I both got a shock when we turned to the page with the naked mole rat (eeew!).
I may even buy this so we have our own copy and I'm definitely going to look for more books by the author.

[Huda Fel · Rating 3 out of 5]

مقطوعات مسجوعة عن حيوانات غريبة

[Randee Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in 1st or 2nd grade and I have a autographed copy by the author.