My dad at the zoo

In this companion to My Dad is Big and Strong, but . . . : A Bedtime Story (2012), a boy and his dad continue their role reversals for a trip to the zoo. Dad awakens early, insisting that they leave now! He then bounces and squirms in line, has to pee, races from attraction to attraction, suffers a meltdown, drops his ice cream cone, wheedles unsuccessfully for a souvenir, and sulks all the way home. DiGiacomo's quirky, mixed-media illustrations feature naively drawn, slightly exaggerated figures set against muted, charcoal and earth-tone backgrounds, which are well suited to Saudo's understated, comedic text (translated from its original French). Parents and older preschoolers will certainly recognize Dad's juvenile behaviors and appreciate the absurdity of a hat-and-tie clad adult flirting with flamingos and throwing tantrums. Warm and funny, this should be popular with young families. Pair with Philip Stead's A Sick Day for Amos McGee (2010) or Kate Feiffer's My Side of the Car (2011) for differing perspectives on zoo trips.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2016 Booklist

In 2012's My Dad Is Big and Strong, BUT..., Saudo's young narrator recounted his difficulty in getting his father to go to sleep. Now a trip to the zoo proves just as difficult: Dad poses for a photo with a flamingo, begs for ice cream (only to drop it), and gets his hat stolen by an elephant. "Dad cracks up, but not me," grumps the boy. "That must be the eighth hat he's lost at the zoo!" The responsibility role reversal is just as funny this time around as Di Giacomo gleefully reflects Dad's inexhaustible energy and his son's growing weariness in scraggly charcoal lines and washes of muted color. Ages 3-7. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

K-Gr 2-What a charming book! This is a story of role reversal with an energetic father who gets up on Sunday mornings raring to go to the zoo. He wakes up his sleepy son and "does the galloping camel" all the way. Dad hates to wait in line, squirming, bouncing, and trying to cut the line. Once inside, the son has all he can do to keep up with his rambunctious dad. He plays with all the animals.until he disappears. Finally he is discovered in front of the ice cream vendor, throwing a tantrum because he wants an ice cream. Son, like many good parents, realizes he needs to find a way to distract Dad and says there is an escaping porcupine. The two give chase, until they come across Dad's favorite animal, the elephant. The father behaves like any excited child, barely under his son's control. This is a delightful topsy-turvy look at parenting and the joys of being a child. And the father's antics are very funny. His favorite elephant steals his hat (one of many he keeps on a coatrack in the background), and the son complains about how many hats his father has lost at the zoo. The text and the illustrations are playful and well done-the overall effect is greater than the sum of its parts. Expect this book to generate recognition of naughty-child behavior and perhaps a discussion about the roles parents must play. VERDICT This book is pure joy to read and should be a first purchase for most collections.-Mary Hazelton, formerly at Warren & Waldoboro Elementary Schools, ME c Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A young boy narrates a trip to the zoo with Dad, but who's the kid and who's the adult? Readers get their first clue that this isn't a standard parent-child picture book on the opening spread. No people are visible, but a Victrola's horn sneaks through a door, startling the dog (and maybe readers) with a blaring: "everybody up! I want to go to the ZOO!" From then, it's constant motion, the father doing his best galloping-camel imitation all the way to the zoo, his still-sleepy (and pajama-clad) son hanging on for dear life. By the third spread, readers will know that the roles of father and child are reversed. The longer the two wait in line for tickets, "the more ideas [Dad] has about how to cut the line." Dad races around the enclosures with the boy lagging behind before having a meltdown over ice cream; these behaviorsand the child's desperate attempts to distract Dadwill be quite familiar (and hysterical) to parents of small children. There's even the final, most terrible ordeal: the gift shop! "The galloping camel has turned into a sluggish snail. And me? I'm wiped out." Di Giacomo's naively done illustrations in muted earth tones are quite unlike what's normally found in bright, splashy picture books, but they fit this one perfectly, playing up the humor of a Dad who just can't be still. A tongue-in-cheek masterpiece echoing most parents' outings with small children. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In this companion to My Dad is Big and Strong, but . . . : A Bedtime Story (2012), a boy and his dad continue their role reversals for a trip to the zoo. Dad awakens early, insisting that they leave now! He then bounces and squirms in line, has to pee, races from attraction to attraction, suffers a meltdown, drops his ice cream cone, wheedles unsuccessfully for a souvenir, and sulks all the way home. DiGiacomo's quirky, mixed-media illustrations feature naively drawn, slightly exaggerated figures set against muted, charcoal and earth-tone backgrounds, which are well suited to Saudo's understated, comedic text (translated from its original French). Parents and older preschoolers will certainly recognize Dad's juvenile behaviors and appreciate the absurdity of a hat-and-tie clad adult flirting with flamingos and throwing tantrums. Warm and funny, this should be popular with young families. Pair with Philip Stead's A Sick Day for Amos McGee (2010) or Kate Feiffer's My Side of the Car (2011) for differing perspectives on zoo trips. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

In 2012's My Dad Is Big and Strong, BUT...,Saudo's young narrator recounted his difficulty in getting his father to go to sleep. Now a trip to the zoo proves just as difficult: Dad poses for a photo with a flamingo, begs for ice cream (only to drop it), and gets his hat stolen by an elephant. "Dad cracks up, but not me," grumps the boy. "That must be the eighth hat he's lost at the zoo!" The responsibility role reversal is just as funny this time around as Di Giacomo gleefully reflects Dad's inexhaustible energy and his son's growing weariness in scraggly charcoal lines and washes of muted color. Ages 3–7. (May)

PopK-Gr 2—What a charming book! This is a story of role reversal with an energetic father who gets up on Sunday mornings raring to go to the zoo. He wakes up his sleepy son and "does the galloping camel" all the way. Dad hates to wait in line, squirming, bouncing, and trying to cut the line. Once inside, the son has all he can do to keep up with his rambunctious dad. He plays with all the animals…until he disappears. Finally he is discovered in front of the ice cream vendor, throwing a tantrum because he wants an ice cream. Son, like many good parents, realizes he needs to find a way to distract Dad and says there is an escaping porcupine. The two give chase, until they come across Dad's favorite animal, the elephant. The father behaves like any excited child, barely under his son's control. This is a delightful topsy-turvy look at parenting and the joys of being a child. And the father's antics are very funny. His favorite elephant steals his hat (one of many he keeps on a coatrack in the background), and the son complains about how many hats his father has lost at the zoo. The text and the illustrations are playful and well done—the overall effect is greater than the sum of its parts. Expect this book to generate recognition of naughty-child behavior and perhaps a discussion about the roles parents must play. VERDICT This book is pure joy to read and should be a first purchase for most collections.—Mary Hazelton, formerly at Warren & Waldoboro Elementary Schools, ME