Sloth at the Zoom

Sloth at the Zoom. Helaine Becker. Illustrated by Orbie. 2018. 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: One bright day, a truck whizzed up to the front gate of the Zoom. There was a new animal being delivered. It was a sloth.

Premise/plot: The sloth was supposed to be delivered to the Zzzzoo. Instead the sloth is delivered to the ZOOM. She was looking forward to all the REST and RELAXATION promised to her at the Zzzzoo. She'll have some adapting to do. Her animal neighbors at the Zoom are....well, zoom-y.

At the Zoom, the zebras galloped so fast they left their stripes in puddles.
The monkeys climbed so fast they forgot to stop at the treetops.
And the parrots flew so fast their tails drew rainbows across the sky.

Will she ever make friends? Yes. But in her own time and in her own way.

My thoughts: I'm not sure if I'd rather visit a Zzzzoo where all the animals are sleeping or the Zoom where all the animals are crazy-busy-fast. The residents in this town--as evidenced by the end papers--don't have to choose. They have both.

I really enjoyed this one. I did. I enjoyed the writing style. The narrative was fun. I liked all the plays on words. I liked the theme of friendship as well. It does take time to make friends and to keep them. But friendship is worth slowing down for.

I loved, loved, LOVED the illustrations.

Text: 4 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 9 out of 10





© 2018 Becky Laney of Young Readers