From the Publisher
Praise for Douglas Florian's animal poetry books:
"A first choice for the poetry shelves . . . this collection is toadally terrific."—
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
[star] "Florian's distinctive, full-page watercolors are as playful as his verse."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Publishers Weekly
Favorite authors and characters return for more entertainment. Douglas Florian kicks off poetry month with another collection of 21 wry poems and paintings, zoo's who. The opening "The Lizards" sets the tone: "Lizards laze/ And lizards bask./ What's their favorite food?/ Don't ask!" accompanied by one of the artist's signature collages as the green, scaly subject laps up everything in sight. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 3-5-Quick quips, wordplay, and poetic license mark Florian's continuing scheme of paying homage to animals in short verse and imaginative paintings. Though readers may expect to meet zoo animals this time around, they will encounter quite an eclectic assortment of creatures as the term "zoo" is apparently intended in a wider sense. "Slugs are ugly./Slugs are lowly./Slugs climb mountains/Very slowly." If the verses seem rather slow, too, they're mostly quite short and some will evoke a chuckle. The mixed-media art facing each of the 21 entries is intriguing. Florian's small endnote on the art materials acknowledges many tools and "much collage on primed brown paper bags." Saw-toothed edges appear at the top or bottom of some of the framed, full-page views, and muted color tones broadly painted sketch each creature and fill in the background. Most scenes are abstract or surreal with a wide array of small images imposed on the featured animal or scattered about. They always include stamped letters variously placed to spell the animal's name. The overall effect is quick and primitive, sometimes puzzling. While not the strongest work in this series, both the verse and the art might find diverse use by imaginative classroom teachers.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
"A puffin loves stuffin' / Its bill full of fishes. / It fills it with seven / Or eight if it wishes. / It always finds dishes / Of fishes delicious. / A puffin loves stuffin' / Its bill full of fishes." Florian pun-ishes his legions of fans with 21 more occasions for zoological wordplay, admiring Bush Baby's "bushy tush," observing the behavior of penguins in "penguindy weather," concluding that one good tern deserves another, and so on-shaping or otherwise altering many of the verses, and pairing each to a typically witty construct of paint and found objects. For gales of laughter, read the poems aloud; for chuckles of amusement, linger over the pictures-either way, Florian demonstrates as well as any writer or artist ever has the simple joys of playing with language and imagery. (Poetry. 6-10)
