If I Ran the Zoo Yellow Back Book - Softcover

Seuss, Dr

3.83

10,982 ratings by Goodreads

9780007169948: If I Ran the Zoo Yellow Back Book

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007169949 ISBN 13: 9780007169948

Publisher: Harpercollins Childs, 2003

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If I Ran the Zoo welcomes yong readers to the crazy world of Gerald McGrew, who dreams of transforming his local zoo into a madcap menagerie of wierd and wonderful beasts. His New Zoo, McGrew Zoo would be "better than Noah's whole Ark", with an amazing array of animals, ranging from the incredible Thwerll, whose legs are snarled up in a terrible snerl, to the family of Joats, whose feet are like cows' but wear squirrel-skin coats! This delightful book forms part of the second stage in HarperCollins' major Dr. Seuss rebrand programme. With the relaunch of 10 more titles in August 2003, such all-time favourites as How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? and Dr. Seuss' Sleep Book boast bright new covers that incorporate much needed guidance on reading levels: Blue Back Books are for parents to share with young children, Green Back Books are for budding readers to tackle on their own, and Yellow Back Books are for older, more fluent readers to enjoy. If I Ran the Zoo belongs to the Yellow Back Book range.

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Review:

"It's a pretty good zoo," said young Gerald McGrew, "and the fellow who runs it seems proud of it, too." But if Gerald ran the zoo, the New Zoo, McGrew Zoo, he'd see to making a change or two: "So I'd open each cage. I'd unlock every pen, let the animals go, and start over again." And that's just what Gerald imagines, as he travels the world in this playfully illustrated Dr. Seuss classic (first published back in 1950), collecting all sorts of beasts "that you don't see every day." From the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant to the blistering sands of the Desert of Zind, Gerald hunts down every animal imaginable ("I'll catch 'em in countries no one can spell, like the country of Motta-fa-Potta-fa-Pell"). Whether it's a scraggle-foot Mulligatawny or a wild-haired Iota (from "the far western part of south-east North Dakota"), Gerald amazes the world with his new and improved zoo: "This Zoo Keeper, New Keeper's simply astounding! He travels so far that you think he would drop! When do you suppose this young fellow will stop?"

But Gerald's weird and wonderful globe-trotting safari doesn't end a moment too soon: "young McGrew's made his mark. He's built a zoo better than Noah's whole Ark!" Some of the text and illustrations--imaginative as they are--are obviously dated, such as the following passage: "I'll hunt in the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant/ With helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant,/ And capture a fine fluffy bird called the Bustard/ Who only eats custard with sauce made of mustard." And your children may be the first to recognize that attitudes have changed since the xenophobic '50s. But that doesn't mean this tale need be discarded; instead, it should be discussed. Ironically, Seuss was trying here--in his wild, explosive, and sometimes careless manner--to celebrate the joys of unconventionality and the bliss of liberation! (Ages 4 to 8)

From the Back Cover:

A Chunky Book� with an added surprise--a punch-out piece to play w

Everyone loves Dr. Seuss! A true original, he wrote and illustrated over 50

classic children's books with total sales of more than 100 million copies. For

children of all ages.

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