Book Review: Zoobilation! Animal Poems and Paintings

 

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Florian, D. (2022). Zoobilations!: animal poems and paintings. Beach Lane Books.

ISBN: 1534465901

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

This book of poetry takes young readers through a world filled with animals. This silly book of animal poems is loaded with puns that is sure to keep readers turning the pages as his writings and illustrations describe different animals and provides readers with some fun facts.

3.CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This is another must have! Florian cleverly writes verses that perfectly describe different animals and their attributes. From describing the mandrills colorful face to comparing a centipede and millipede’s legs, his words also provide readers with interesting facts about the animals in his poetry. His poems are fun, creative, and his play with words makes them engaging to readers of all ages.  

Florian’s illustrations are simple and appealing to young children. Each image looks like it was hand drawn and painted by a young child. The color tones used add to the child like feel of his poems. Each illustration perfectly depicts the words from each poem. Additionally, each illustration looks like it was drawn out on construction paper then crumbled up. This is perhaps my favorite part of the book, each picture reminds me of young children and reaffirms the idea that anyone can be an illustrator.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Starred review in Horn Book: “Some of the poems are peppered with interesting facts”

Starred review in The Booklist: “Florian intersperses snippets of natural history with imaginative flights of fancy.”

5. CONNECTIONS

* Engage readers to continue the story. Have them think about different animals that are not mentioned in the book, and have them write their own verses to describe those animals.

* Use an anchor chart to teach students what a pun is. Group students into small groups of 3-4 students, and have them come up with a pun they can share with the class.

* Have student research some of the different animals that were mentioned in the Florian’s poem. Have them compare the different animal attributes to the poems. Engage students in a discussion, Did Florian accurately portray each animal in his poetry?

* Have students read other books written by Douglas Florian, how are the books similar or different?

*Other books by Douglas Florian

Florian, D. (2007). Comets, stars, the Moon, and Mars. Harcourt, Inc. ISBN: 0152053727

Florian, D. (2005). Lizards, frogs, and polliwogs: Poems and paintings. Harcourt.

ISBN: 0152052488

Florian, D. (2012). Unbeelievables: Honeybee Poems and paintings. Simon &

Schuster Children’s Pub. ISBN: 1442426527

Review completed for SHSU MLA course

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