My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael HallBack-of-the-book blurb: A heart can be hopeful, or silly, or happy. A heart can be rugged, or snappy, or lonely. A heart holds every different feeling, and debut author-artist Michael Hall captures each one.
She is Too Fond of Books’ review: Greenwillow Books is an imprint of HarperCollins that has been publishing children’s books for over 35 years. Remember I told you about the HarperCollins new title introduction at ALA Midwinter? My Heart is Like a Zoo was one of the featured children’s books, and I can why it was chosen to spotlight!
A look at the cover shows you the type of bright colorful illustrations you’ll find in the book; each page (or double-page spread) describes an emotion and connects it to an animal with heart-centric (is that a word? If not, it should be!) pictures. Whether a reader’s heart is “eager as a beaver,” “silly as a seal,” or “happy as a herd of hippos drinking apple juice,” he’ll enjoy finding the many heart shapes that Hall uses to create the animals.
My youngest book-tester (age 5) learned a few new words to express his feelings (crafty and gloomy) and a great adjective that describes a rather large walrus (portly). He insisted on counting the hearts in each illustration, and giggled at the thoughts of a quiet “caterpillar wearing knitted socks.”
As a read-aloud, My Heart is Like a Zoo has a nice rhythm, which makes it easier for non-readers to learn to “read” it and enjoy on their own.
Though not intended as a seasonal book for Valentine’s Day, this is a nice (not syrupy!) way to honor a special young (or older!) person. The colors, shapes, and text subject (emotions) earn it a spot on the year-round bookcase.
Enjoy this video which shows some of the illustrations from My Heart is Like a Zoo:
What a wonderful idea for a book. When you hear the vocabularies of so many kids be so limited to “you know” and “like” it really gets me enthusiastic about a book that can instill an appreciation for the richness of our language!
How cute! Joshua would love this!!! You should so link to my Kid Konnection this weekend with this review.
OMG! That is soooooo cute. I love it.
What an adorable book! I think my youngest would love this one!
I was thinking that would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. I love the cover!!
Books like these make me hope I get a job as an elementary school librarian next year
I love that book trailer and the colors Hall uses for the illustrations. Thanks for the review.
I just know my oldest grandson would love this book!
I just put this on hold at the library. It looks adorable!
A friend of mine has a young granddaughter who is just learning to read. She loves to look at the pictures and try to sound out the words for hours upon hours. I think this would be a great book for her, so I will be pointing her towards this review. It looks like a very cute book with a lot of promise for a beginning reader!
This sounds delightful!
My grandson just turned 1 and really enjoys the “Zoo” book. No matter what he is doing, If I say, “Dominic” let’s read the Zoo book”, he comes crawling. It’s a great story with great graphics. Thanks