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Dear ZooRod Campbell
Dear Zoo
by Rod Campbell
A child writes to the zoo asking for a pet. Each animal they send back is too tall, too fierce or too naughty, until one turns out to be perfect.
A story about animals, funny and gentle in tone. We would put it with children of 3–4, and at a reading age of about 4 for reading alone.
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Our take on this book
A child writes to the zoo asking for a pet, and the zoo keeps sending the wrong one — an elephant too big, a lion too fierce, a camel too grumpy — each hidden behind a lift-the-flap crate, until at last the perfect pet arrives. Rod Campbell's 1982 board book is one of the first books thousands of children ever handle, and its genius is total simplicity: a repeating pattern a toddler can predict and join in with, sturdy flaps small hands can lift, and the reliable pleasure of guessing what's behind each one. There is nothing to it beyond warmth and fun, and nothing remotely frightening. For a very young child of three or four — and often younger — it is a first-favourite: the flaps, the animals and the repetition are exactly what a toddler's brain wants, and it has taught a great many children that a book is a thing you do, not just look at. A genuine classic of the earliest years.
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