Z is for Zoozical

Phew! My fellow A to Z bloggers, we made it! Congratulations!

I’ll conclude this marathon month with a title that actually begins with the letter Z – Judy Sierra’s Zoozical.

This is certainly a silly plot. When bad weather keeps visitors away from the zoo, nearly every animal succumbs to the winter doldrums. That is, until a startled hippo kicks off a hop-fest with a young kangaroo. When that hop-fest turns into a dance party, the other animals join in, adding well-known songs (with creatively modified lyrics) to kick things up a notch. Before long, they have a great idea for attracting visitors back to the zoo: A ZooZical!

My favorite thing about this book is the delicious and lovely rhythm and word choice. I want to read this one again and again, and I don’t even have a little on asking for it. Here’s a taste:

“It was one of those times that you hope never ends,

When penguins and pandas and pythons are friends,

When tigers don’t bite, when the doldrums take flight,

On a magical, musical ZooZical night.”

Happy A to Z and RhyPiBoMo, everyone. I look forward to the return of both next year.