Product Description

Two brothers and their parents spend a day at the zoo, looking at the animals in the cages - or is it that the animals are watching the visitors? This winner of the 1993 Kate Greenaway Medal is a teasing examination of the relationship between man and animals, and the role of zoos.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18273 in Books
• Published on: 1994-04-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Customer Reviews

A book for the thinking child
I think it is such a shame that some reviewers so not see the value and beauty of Anthony Browne's Zoo. This story is meant to provide a platform for thinking, debate and inference and is a book I use every year with my pupils aged between 5 and 7. The passion and independence of mind that this book generates in the classroom is wonderful, many of my young pupils are able to understand Browne's opinions about Zoos and to understand that it is just that - an opinion. Encourage your children to debate and question these views rather than assuming they will accept them blindly. You may be suprised at their reaction to this book, every pupil I have ever taught reacts slightly differently to this text.
Browne's illustrations are a joy and horror in equal measures and his words say as much about some aspects of family life as they do about zoos, like the reality or not. I highly reccommend this text for anyone who wants to encourage open mindedness and inference in their children or pupils.

Fantastic book, ideal in a classroom setting.
Anthony Browne is an excellent author, who has again outdone himself with this book.
Zoo is a tale of a families trip to the zoo. For whatever reason, the entire family (as in most Browne books) are depicted as Gorillas. There are several subtle scenes in the book which lend themselves to analysis by children of all ages. Browne is an extremely intelligent author who has managed time and time again to write books that communicate ideas on many many levels.

Well....
We bought this because the illustrations looked excellent, basically. However disappointment came when we got the book home, sat down with the kids, and started to read. It is just full of obvious politically correct undertones, and the "message" is signposted at every page- ie "zoos are bad: we shouldn't cage our animals". Fair enough one may have an opinion on that but to be fair my three and one year old don't care- they would much prefer a happy story about animals with a positive personal moral ending rather than liberalist left wing overtly political propaganda.