My days of leading daily circle times have long since passed.Nevertheless, my concept of a perfect circle time picture book for young childrenremains the same: It is a strikingly-illustrated book that, when read aloud,sparks both wonder and laughter.THE WAY TO THE ZOO by John Burningham is exactly this sort of picturebook.One evening, while nodding off, Sylvie thinks she can see a previouslyunseen door in the wall of her bedroom. The following night, she manages tolocate and open the door. She ventures through it and finds that it leads,via a staircase and passageway, to the zoo.That first night:“Sylvie asked a little bear to come back with her. He did and slept inher bed.“She made sure the bear was back in the zoo and the door in the wall wasclosed before she left for school.”On subsequent evenings, Sylvie returns to the zoo and provides asuccession of creatures the opportunity to spend the night sleeping over. Wedelight in the chaotic antics of Sylvie and the wild animals in the house, andempathize with the poor baby elephant that is “too big for the passageway.”Of course, something is eventually bound to go wrong with such a wonderful arrangement.“One morning Sylvie woke up very late and had to rush to get ready forschool. When she came home later that day, she knew something was wrong.There were noises coming from the living room. She had forgotten to close thedoor in her bedroom wall.”
Right here, I can feel the excitement building in me as I imagine having abunch of kids sitting around me as I turn the page and share the crazyscene that she finds in the living room...and then turn another page to sharethe illustration of Sylvie’s loud reaction. Now she must work to clean upthe mess in time for her mother’s arrival home.She ALMOST succeeds.
John Burningham has written and/or illustrated so many well-loved booksover the past half-century. The hilarity and sweetness of THE WAY TO THEZOO, coupled with the not-to-be-missed expressions on the characters faces inthis little-girl-and-her-animal-buddies tale makes this my new favorite ofMr. Burningham’s books.
978-0-7636-7317-8 40 pages Ages 4-8
Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS, Librarian, California USA
See more of his recommendations: Richie's Picks (https://richiespicks.com/)