Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott

Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott
Buy Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Rachael Spencer
Summary: Zoo girl is the story of an orphan who goes to the zoo and gets left behind, discovering a sense of happiness and belonging amongst the animals. Aimed at older children, this is a very meaningful story of finding yourself, told in a unique way.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: June 2011
Publisher: Lion Hudson plc
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0745962702
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Zoo girl was not what I expected. I was anticipating your average rhyming story aimed at preschoolers with the usual obsession over zoo animals. What I got was a very deep, moving tale aimed above the usual picture book age that will resonate with people who read it from children to adults.

With no more than three words to a page, it is the incredibly detailed and with stylized illustrations which take you into the world of Zoo Girl. We find her abandoned at an orphanage with no family, short of friends and ultimately alone. On a trip to the zoo she gets left behind, but what will happen to her after that?

It would be lying to say that I loved this book the first time I picked it up, but I think this is mainly due to me not realising the type of book I was going to read. I initially felt it to be quite bleak and joyless, but upon further reading I find it a very clever concept with a prevailing theme of hope. The illustrations, though initially fairly darkly toned are actually beautiful, with many stand out moments which work perfectly for the story being told.

For older children with limited reading abilities, it can be difficult to find challenging enough stories but this is just that, using a format usually left for the very young and lacing it together with a highly emotive story which also conveys a good moral about your own sense of self.

I would not recommend you take this book if you aren’t willing to ask or answer a lot of questions, but I would recommend you give it a chance and maybe borrow it from your local library first, so that you can decide what you think of it for yourself before purchasing a copy.

The more I read this book, the more I find to take from it which I am sure can only be a good thing and in my eyes makes it worth picking up something a little different now and again, you never know what you might find.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

Further Reading Suggestions: If you liked this, why not try The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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