It’s winter and it’s cold and the weather is miserable. Everyone is down in the doldrums. A group of animals at the zoo decide to put on a musical, adding new lyrics and dance numbers to old songs, to cheer everyone up. The musical, a “zoozical”, is a big hit.‘Then onto the stage rolls ten seals on a bus,Barking, “Let’s sing a tune that is all about us!”The seals on the bus go round and round….’ "Zoozical" by Judy Sierra instantly became one of my new favorites after I read the fun story of the zoo animals who, in efforts to get people to come to the zoo during the cold winter, put on a musical, which they call a "zoozical." After practicing the songs with lyrics such as "if you're hoppy and you know it, clap your paws" and "for he's a jolly gorilla," the animals are ready to perform in front of an audience. However, hippo gets stage fright and the kangaroo falls asleep, and the fate of the "zoozical" is up in the air. Nevertheless, in predictable fashion, the audience enjoys the show in the same way that I loved the fun rhymes in the story. Young children might be slightly confused by the repeated mention of the "doldrum" winds, but this discrepancy can be easily explained. Marc Brown's colored pencil illustrations match the fun tale with vibrant colors that depict the vivacity of the animals in the zoo; they even inlude the lyrics to the songs that the animals sings. These illustrations are as enjoyable as the text and it’s impossible not to smile after reading the story, which rhyming lines and songs beg to be read aloud. Perhaps, teachers in kindergarten through second grade classrooms could even use "Zoozical" as a bridge into a music unit or to teach rhyming in a poetry unit.
What do You think about ZooZical (2011)?
Ingenious! My daughter still sings the songs from this book.
—courtney
