I Went to the Zoo

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

One day a young lad goes to the zoo and notices that the pandas are
sitting and the camels are spitting. They are as bored as bored could
be. Come home, says the lad, come home with me. Before he leaves with
his new friends, the lad also notices other bored animals. “The
rabbits were hopping / The pigs were slopping / The monkeys were
swinging / Koalas were clinging.” But all were as bored as bored could
be. Come home, says the lad, come home with me. And so the story builds
until the lad has invited the entire zoo home. Once home, the lad
quickly learns why animals live in zoos. They are as messy as messy can
be. And so back they go. End of story.

It is with mixed emotions that I write this review. As an adult, I
personally did not like this book. I found the writing weak and the
artwork uninteresting. My 4-year-old son, on the other hand, considers
it one of his favorites. Maybe my son just likes animals. Maybe he liked
seeing daddy turn blue from trying to do all the bad rhyming couplets in
one breath. Or maybe, somehow, he can see something daddy just could
not. Not a first-choice purchase.