Citation: Campbell, R. (1982)
ISBN#: 978-0-689-87751-3
Book content: This charming and simple classic pop-up-book is about a young child in search of the perfect pet to call their very own. The child calls up the zoo in search of help, and in turn they send him/her a variety of fun and interesting animals to choose from. Which one will they end up picking? Lift the eight colourful flaps to find out!
Why is this Book appropriate for 3-5 year olds? I would use this story book for children three to five years of age for a lot of reasons. Although it is a simple book with an easy graspable concept, it is still mysterious and full of anticipation. For young children the language used is very basic, and most of all repetitive which will make it easier for them to follow along. The simplicity of the text and the fact that it is a shorter story will help keep their attention without them getting antsy. In my center the children range in ages from three to four years old. It is suitable for them because there are so many avenues of learning that this book supports such as basic grammar skills, memory skills, and also with the recognition of a variety of animals. The majority of the animals in this book are ones that most children have seen before either at the zoo, on TV, in another book etc ... The beauty of this story is that there are flaps on each page disguising each animal. Before you lift it up, a few of the pages reveal a certain body part of the animal to help rule out other options. Children are then using their brains and memories to make connections to figure out which animal is hiding behind each door. Pop-Up books are fun and engaging for all kids. Even though this is a very simple story I believe children five years of age and even older will have fun trying to figure out what is what.
Illustrations: The illustrations in this book were made very simple, and everything including the text and pictures were put on a white background. The pop-up flaps are made of a thin cardboard which felt a little thicker than card stock. Behind each flap is one animal, with an ending total of eight. I think the pictures in this book evoke curiosity and wonder in children. Because the font is large and everything is placed on a white background your attention is automatically drawn to the vibrant colourful boxes/crates on each page. Children will enjoy wondering and guessing which animal is behind each secret door. The sizes and shapes of the various crates are also interesting because they are quite deceiving. Not everything is what it seems when it comes to the shapes and sizes of the animals hiding behind them. I was drawn to the pictures because I have always been a huge fan of pop-up style books, and still am to this day. The illustrations give a new perspective and more depth to the book seeing as they are in 3D. The illustrations were really the guiding factor in why I decided to use “Dear Zoo” as my story to present.
Provocations: A way of provoking the children’s interest in “Dear Zoo” is a week before we even read the story I would begin to put various animal books on the tables for the kids during the day. If the children can begin looking and viewing the different physical characteristics of the animals including basic things like their size, shape and color before we read the story, when we do the content will be a lot more recognizable. Also another good idea would be to lay out different safari animal toys like the characters in the book around the center so they can play with them before hand.
Ways to present the Book:
Way #1:
My first way in presenting this book is through a felt story. I really enjoy felt stories and having the visuals from the pages come to life in physical pieces that you can use and present. I was be able to craft my very own felt board in class one night using cardboard, a glue gun and black felt. I enjoyed being able to custom make it myself and make it the dimensions I was comfortable with. I was very lucky to stumble across a business called “3H Craftworks” that I found out about through school. It is located in downtown Vancouver, and they carried an already made felt story of my book “Dear Zoo”. The story came to a total of $21.95 and was worth every penny! It included all 8 of the animals: Elephant, Giraffe, Lion, Frog, Camel, Snake, Monkey, Frog, and Dog, along with 9 other pieces that included all of the crates and containers for each animal. This felt story was beautifully crafted and very detailed. It was definitely a good investment. Because this story is so short there is no need to “chunk” the book. One page I would stop and wonder with the children is probably the first page. The text says “I wrote to the zoo”, so I would probably ask the kids, “I wonder who is writing to the zoo?” “I wonder if it is a boy or girl?” “I wonder if this person is young or old?.” Just lots of things like that because the gender, nor age or any other characteristics are mentioned at all. That way it gets the children to envision the person any way they want to.
Way #2:
The second way I chose to present this book is through hand puppets. I ordered 8 of the animal puppets online from www.Amazon.com as well as a family owned business named www.stuffedsafari.com . I decided to display the puppets on a puppet stand to help make them stand upright and also to show them off so the children will be interested in them. A close family friend agreed to make the puppet stand for me, and he did so using an old dresser drawer and some wooden dowels. Because there are 8 puppets and I only have two hands, I would probably familiarize the children with the book a few times and then allow each of them to take a puppet and help me with acting out the story. We would all sit in a circle with each child holding their puppet behind their back. When I would read for example, “they sent me a snake, but he was too scary ...” The child holding the snake puppet would take it from behind their back, bring themselves and their puppet into the middle of the circle and act scary. Then the next child would go, and so on. If one of them wasn’t comfortable doing this they could just reveal the puppet from behind their back, and then we would move on to the next child. This way the children physically become a part of the story. They are practicing their waiting skills, taking turns, and familiarizing themselves to the various emotions/characteristics portrayed by each animal (grumpy, scary, jumpy, big etc ...); each child will be able to act out something different. The page I would choose to wonder with the children would be the very last page. This is when the child chooses to keep the dog. I would ask the children “I wonder why they chose to keep the dog over the other animals?”, “I wonder what you guys would name the dog if he was yours to keep?” This way they get the opportunity to dream a little bit and envision having a dog of their own if they don’t already.
Way #3:
My third way for presenting “Dear Zoo” is through medium sized plastic toy animals. Plastic is sturdy and child proof so there is no need to worry about breakage when using them with small children. I would again get them to sit in a circle. I would use the felt stories black background to hide each animal behind until it was their time to come out. I would probably memorize the story and focus my energy in the presentation of the animals. As the anticipation would be building to see each animal, I would slowly reveal a certain body part so the kids could guess what it was. I would probably be using wonders by asking them “I wonder what this animal could be?”, and giving them the opportunity to guess what it is. I then would reveal the animal, and walk each one across the floor to a different child so they could hold onto it until the story was finished. Again because it is a visual way of presenting the story and there are elements of surprise involved the kids will be excited to see what is going to happen next.
Way #4:
The fourth way I am going to present “Dear Zoo” is through homemade masks I put together. I printed out cartoon mask templates of each animal onto thick white cardstock. I then laminated each, and cut them out. The final step was glue gunning thin wooden skewers onto the bottoms of the masks to act as handles. They were virtually costless and super easy to make. Also, because they are laminated they are easy to clean and sanitize after the children are done playing with them. I would present this story first by reading it to the kids. Once I was done I would then close the book and show them the front cover. Something I would wonder with them would be “I wonder what animal you guys would have given back to the zoo?” It would be interesting hearing the various answers and each child’s reasoning behind their decision. After sharing I would let them move on to another activity for a while. Later in the afternoon I would show the children the book again, and at the same time have the masks lined up on the ground in front of them. By giving each child a mask to wear it will make the experience a lot more interactive. Kids will love the idea of role playing and acting out the various personalities of the animals.
Extensions:
Extension #1:
I purchased a coloring book copy of the story “Dear Zoo” off www.amazon.ca . It would be fun to let the kids choose an animal to color and bring it to life in their own way. Because the images in the coloring book are so similar to the ones in the actual book, the kids will be excited to transfer from reading the story to taking part in the activity.
Extension #2:
My next extension would be to use my felt story as a game. I would hide all the animals behind different crates/containers than their original one. The children can then take turns guessing which animal is hiding behind each one. The children could even be separated into two teams and then take turns guessing. Because the children will be from three to five years old, to make it easier I could lay half of the animals and their crates visibly on the floor in front of them so they have less to try and guess from. This will be helping their brains make connections and using their memory as a way to go back to the pages of the book to envision which animals are missing from the pile.
Extension #3:
Another way to extend this book is by letting the children create their very own picture for the zoo showing which of the animals they would choose to return. Because that is the main focus of the story the kids will be able to go back and think about which of those animals they liked the least. This extension could be tweaked in a lot of ways as well. The children could also send a picture to the zoo of the animal they would want to keep out of the eight choices. Or, they could even draw and create their very own animals that they would want the zoo to send them as pets. To extend this even further we would take all of their pictures and put each of them in an envelope. We would all walk to a mailbox together and take turns dropping them into the mail to send off to the zoo. (I would address the letters to me, and then write each of them a little response back) This would be an exciting activity for young children.
Extension #4:
An added way to extend “Dear Zoo” is by using the puppets for fun. There is a video on Youtube that is a song version of the book being sung http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzl9IyeMWto we could use this, along with the various puppets from the story as a way of music and movement.
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