You...Wonderful You!

There are children longing for parents.  There are parents wishing for children.  When a match is made, it's serendipity.

Springfield Zoo has been the setting for two upbeat and inviting stories, Wild About Books (Knopf, 2004) and ZooZical (Knopf, 2011), both written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown.  Their third book, Wild About You! (Alfred A. Knopf, August 2012) is a continuation of what readers have come to expect as the cheerful blend of pulsing poetry and animated illustrations.  Those now familiar faces have become excited about books, reading, writing and libraries, expanding their musical abilities and now, parenting with a capital "P".

Who's new at the zoo?
Brand-new babies, that's who!
Some popped from their mamas.  Some hatched out of eggs.
Some walked right away on their long, wobbly legs.

Amid all these new offspring, who do tend to hide from their moms and dads, there are three animals at the zoo with nothing to do, the tree kangaroo and the pandas.  It does not matter to them if their children are like them, any kind would be perfect.  When an Endangered Species Rescue truck pulls into the zoo, speculation and hope rise.

The crew at the zoo gathers 'round to see...a box, a box with an egg inside.  None of the feathered friends are willing to try but the tree kangaroo steps right up, placing it in her pouch.  When the egg, after weeks, cracks open, love flows around the unexpected newcomer.

Puffins and flamingos offer assistance as the little fledgling makes its first move.  Still down in the dumps are the panda duo.  Is there no little critter in need of a helping paw or two?  What's that?  Did they hear a mew?

There is definitely something very special about the poetry of Judy Sierra when she's writing about the Springfield Zoo.  Her rhymes have a rhythm, never forced but flowing freely.  When read silently but even more so when read aloud, it's a jazzy, toe-tapping, finger-snapping tale.

Marc Brown is in tip-top form rendering his illustrations on prepared wooden panels with watercolor, gouache and colored pencils. I was captured as soon as I saw the cover, breaking into a smile and opening it to see the happy, curious zoo inhabitants gathered around an egg.  Endpapers with a scratchy, blue background provide a nest for eggs in various stages of opening as a tiny kitten peeks from behind.

The striped lettering on the cover and title page puts the wild in wild as babies sit on top.  With only a couple of exceptions all of the visuals are spread across two pages in colors exuding a glowing warmth; enhancing the theme of Sierra's narrative.  Even when not smiling, which is infrequent at Springfield Zoo, Brown manages to convey a sense of wonder, community and harmony on the faces of the animals.  While I would gladly frame many of the illustrations, if I could frame only two pages, it would be the last two; sheer delight.

Readers are going to love visiting Springfield Zoo again in Wild About You! by Judy Sierra with pictures by Marc Brown.  The more readers discover in nonfiction reading about the animal kingdom, the more they will understand the compatibility shown by the text and illustrations within the pages of this title.  One can't help but think (as I did in the two previous books), how is this like or unlike our world?

Music Chases Away The Cold Weather Blues

Author Judy Sierra and illustrator Marc Brown have paired again to bring back the cast from Wild About Books, in a new title, ZooZical, at that charming place known as the Springfield Zoo where the impossible becomes wonderful. In a letter at the Amazon.com site featuring this title, Sierra states: I think of my new book, ZooZical as a little kids' Broadway musical. ... I wrote ZooZical in rhymed couplets and triplets, to a Seussian beat (anapestic tetrameter, mostly). I find this meter ideal for storytelling--so perfect, in fact, that it often conjures up parts of a tale as if by magic.

One blustery morning, when frosty winds blew,

When families stayed home, and when field trips were few,

The midwinter doldrums arrived at the zoo.

Peering through arched windows at the snowy outside, lemurs, wombats, snakes, ocelots, owls, pandas and penguins, to name a few, are out of sorts, closing down the zoo.  Within the habitats the situation looks grim when a small hippo and young kangaroo decide just what to do---they kick up their heels and hip-hop to rhythmic time.  It's looks like the winter blahs are leaving and the critters are going to be just fine.

They like to dance.  They like the beat.  So why not combine their talents and put on a tuneful treat.  Amidst much singing of childhood favorites tweaked to fit this melodious menagerie (Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling porcupine.), sets are built and the word goes out that there's a happening at the zoo.

The people of Springfield trek through the snow and are not disappointed by the toe tapping little hippo that opens the show.  Tightrope walking bears, flamingos on a trapeze, dancing baboons and raccoons along with hula hooping snakes usher in the alphabet-song singing crocs.  When he finally awakes our bouncing joey wows the audience with his rendition of the Hokey Pokey. 

Music is powerful medicine; the syncopation of the text will have listeners and readers alike unable to sit still hands clapping, feet thumping and heads nodding.  Before long I know my students will be saying, "Can we dance while you read?"  That's exactly what Judy Sierra wants, her stories to be read aloud and performed.  In fact she has a twelve page PDF file at her web site, linked above, so this book can acted out through voice and dance. 

Marc Brown, using gouache on gessoed wood, begins with warm yellow endpapers covered in a sky blue musical score with red zoo animals cavorting across and on the lines.  His wintry scenes are soft shades of dotted blue, lavenders and whites evoking the chilly clime but once inside the walls of the zoo his hues harmonize with the antics of the inhabitants.  Their infectious exuberance splashes across the pages in a riotous rainbow of color that even without the text convey motion and measure.

Sure to be a crowd pleaser in winter, this title, ZooZical, is truly the ticket to fun for all no matter the weather or the season.

Jazzy Joyous Jiving

Lindsey Craig, who entered the world of children's books with Dancing Feet! (Knopf Books for Young Readers, May 11, 2010 has paired with illustrator, Marc Brown again to give us Farmyard Beat, (Knopf Books for Young Readers, June 14, 2011).  In a snap, happy book she reveals that children are not the only ones that find going to sleep a little bit hard sometimes.

Peep-peep-peep!
Chicks can't sleep.  Chicks can't sleep.
Chicks can't sleep
'cause they got that beat!

Chicks, sheep, the cat, cows, and Hank the dog can't seem to win the battle of the beat.  With peeping, tatting, purring mee-oows, swish clanking and woof how-woooooing they are creating motion magic in the dead of the night.

All that noise has disturbed Farmer Sue's sleep, lantern swinging she seeks the beat. But the beat is hidden, so it's back to bed.

But not for long.  With a turn of the page her desired shut-eye has been replaced with a rhyme rocking good time as feet move to the music; the rhythm of all those sounds making a special syncopation for dancing in the darkness.

Just as the text moves to its own tune the illustrations compliment the intent and flow of the story beginning as soon as the cover is opened; endpapers blending into the title page with publication data bleeding into the first words of the little peeper.  Marc Brown's bold, bright hues hand-painted on papers bring the characters to life with multi-layered, textured personality.  The style he chose of cutting the papers in primary shapes to complete the collages renders this title particularly kid friendly (including those that are kids at heart, too).

All of his visual are two page spreads adding to the feeling that this story is a continuous harmonic melody designed to make readers shake, shimmy and clap.

I can just imagine what a viewer might think peeking in the door to the library media center when this story is being read as we all slowing but surely break into our own delightful dance.