In Lois Lowry's Zooman Sam, a little boy decided to be a zookeeper for "Future Job Day" at his school. This is a boy after my own heart. As a child (and even sometimes as an adult,) zookeeper was my absolute dream job! I have been a zoo volunteer for the last 3 years, and I've loved the zoo for as long as I can remember. But back to the book...This book is supposed to be appropriate for 9 to 12 year olds, but I don't know. Not having children of my own it's kind of hard to judge, but I have spent some time in a 2nd grade classroom recently, and I believe this book would make a better read-aloud pick for storytime in a classroom up to the 2nd grade.The book itself was great! I really loved reading about Sam's passion for the zoo, and his respect for the job that Jake the zookeeper does at the zoo. Zooman Sam is funny and touching, and Sam was a wonderful character to read about.
Sam knows exactly what he wants to be for Future Job Day at school--a Zookeeper! Sam is excited to tell the class all about his future job and how he handles all the different animals. His Future Job Day turns into a Future Job Month as h has 30 different animals to talk about. Sam soon finds out that teaching and animal training aren't everything they're cracked up to be--they are HARD! The final Sam book is as charming as the others. I still like the Anastasia books better, but this is a nice spin-off series and it's always nice to catch up with Anastasia again (she's a teenager now and has some boy issues!). A nice ending to the series.
