Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

This is a classic story that always seems to please older infants and toddlers who are just beginning to explore the wonders of reading (or being read to)! The basic story is that a child writes to the zoo and asks that they send her a pet. The zoo sends a variety of different animals that are either too big, scary, tall, fierce, grumpy, or naughty. Finally, they send an animal that makes the perfect pet! What children enjoy about this book is that they can lift the flap on each page to discover the animal that is in the box sent by the zoo. The text is simple and the flaps are easy for little fingers to open. Like most successful stories for very young children, there is a repetitiveness to the text that is very appealing and the pictures are bright and colourful!