Several new picture books arrived at The Madhouse this month and the one that has been read constantly ever since is Do Not Enter The Monster Zoo by Amy Sparkes and Sara Ogilvie.
It tells the tale of a little boy who wins a competition to become zoo keeper for the day - all because the real zoo keeper wants to head off on holiday for a much needed rest ! The little boy takes things in his stride, showing the fearful beasties who's boss, much to the regular zoo keeper's surprise.
As you can see from the pictures, all three of the Madhouse Mini-testers have been coming into Pierre's room to listen to the bedtime story because it's such a fun book that we're all guaranteed to end up giggling.
The illustrations are full of details and really bring the story to life, helping little readers to really imagine the unusual zoo animals.
It reminds me a lot of The Cat In The Hat on several levels - the little boy trying to keep a whole host of weird and wonderful creatures under control, the fact that it is all written in rhyme and the cheeky sense of humour. Juliette's favourite line in the entire book is this one : "Their hooves flung dung" ! The first time, she asked what "dung" meant but now she giggles her head off every time I get to that part !
It's a brilliant way to end the day with a moment of silliness and infectious giggles before bed and one that I am sure I will appreciate all the more after a tough day at work when the holidays are over !
I was already totally prepared to award the book a well deserved 5/5 but on reading the press release, I discovered that a percentage of the royalties is going to baby charity Tommy's, so there's another great reason for buying it.
star rating : 5/5
RRP : £5.99
Disclosure : We received a copy of the book in order to write an honest review.
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