Zoo's Who

Florian, Douglas. 2005. ZOO'S WHO: POEMS AND PAINTINGS. Orlando, FL: Harcourt. ISBN 9780152046392

Douglas Florian's Zoo's Who is amazingly unique in its appeal to young listeners. Florian's creative use of rhyming words, creative print and made up words with short and quick lines gives a young audience something to remember about each animal. The special effects of the words like "eensie-weensie" and "tennsie" getting smaller and smaller in print and then the words in the poem "The Terns" written in the shape of a square and the S shape lettering of the word snake show ingenious innovation for a poet giving the reader freedom of reciting his work as they please. This book of poems is packed with word play incorporated with comical delight.
Florian's inspiration for compiling this book of zoo animal poems is The Ant.



THE ANT



I wANTed to write

A poem on and ANT.

I'm frANTic -

I cAN'T.



There is too much to say about the paintings. Not only is the medium a mixed array of things you wouldn't dream of using to illustrate, but they are exotically prepared and presented to compliment the poems. My favorite of all is the sheep who places his front hoof over his lips to imply a quiet place to sleep. I would love to hear a group discussion amongst students after reading each of the poems. The rattle in the bush baby's hand, subliminal messages on each painting and the lady bug's (or men bug's) dotted wings are excellent ways to see how well the student's pay attention to artistic details while using both audio and visual learning preferences at the same time. Florian gives critics a final note to mention by placing the page numbers in the center of the page.



Teachers and parents can use this book on visit to the zoo. Writing the poems on index cards or bravely taking the actual copy of the book with you makes reciting poems and learning as fun as just searching for each animal in their natural habitat.

My poetic response to Who's Zoo...

Use your own tone

dramatic or INtense.

Start out slooooooooooooow,

then left in suSPense!

Review Excerpts:

"overall effect is quick and primitive, sometimes puzzling. While not the strongest work in this series, both the verse and the art might find diverse use by imaginative classroom teachers."

-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston, - School Library Journal

"For gales of laughter, read the poems aloud; for chuckles of amusement, linger over the pictures-either way, Florian demonstrates as well as any writer or artist ever has the simple joys of playing with language and imagery."

-Kirkus Review

Other likable books by Douglas Florian:

Bing Bang Boing

Comets, Stars the Moon & Mars: Space Poems & Paintings

Autumnblings

best feast: Poems

lizards, frogs, & polliwogs

Insectlopedia