School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-While exploring one day, Charlie the duck finds his way to a nearby zoo, where he sees hippos, orangutans, chameleons, sea lions, and leopards. Back at home, he regales his family with tales of his adventures. Pfister's story has two distinct styles. A narrative tone describes the duck's wanderings in the wider world. Once he enters the zoo, the text becomes a primer on various animals. Each species is introduced by a guessing game that provides a few hints and cut-out views of the next page, followed by a spread containing an illustration of the animals in their enclosure, information about their habits and habitat, and an outline map. The artwork is detailed and softly realistic with the exception of Charlie, who is depicted in a cartoon style. The cut-outs add visual interest but aren't particularly helpful in suggesting what's on the next page. The reading and comprehension level of the text increases from the story to the animal fact pages, which makes it tricky to determine the book's most likely audience.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Pfister (the Rainbow Fish books) introduces an inquisitive duckling who leaves his mother and siblings to explore the area surrounding their pond. He encounters several animals (none of which the text identifies by name) before a cow (a "brown monster" who has accidentally licked the napping Charlie with her alarmingly large tongue) tells him about a nearby zoo. Charlie decides he wants to go there and dons a baseball cap emblazoned with the word "zoo," which is inexplicably lying in the reeds. The narrative then switches gears and becomes more factual, providing information about the habits and habitats of animals at the zoo. The graphics carry the book, with elaborately die-cut pages offering a partial glimpse of the animal being described before its identity is revealed. Some visual effects are mildly jarring, among them the anthropomorphized Charlie's resemblance to a stuffed animal, a startling contrast to the realistically rendered zoo animals. But the work is classic Pfister, and his fans will be tickled to accompany Charlie on his first visit to the zoo. Ages 3-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved