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The Midnight Zoo

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 468 ratings · 140 reviews

Under cover of darkness, two brothers cross a war-ravaged countryside carrying a secret bundle. One night they stumble across a deserted town reduced to smouldering ruins. But at the end of a blackened street they find a small green miracle: a zoo filled with animals in need of hope.

A moving and ageless fable about war, and freedom.

Hardcover, 186 pages

Published 2010 by Penguin Group (Australia)

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Jun 05, 2011 Nomes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, aussie-ya, australian, books-that-linger, crushing-on-the-writing, historical, i-own, tissue-box-books, faves-of-2011, magical-realism, love-the-premise, my-kind-of-awesome, shining-with-genius-like-brilliance

I often find it hard to review books that startle me with their brilliance. It's as if my own use of the English language can not conjour up anything eloquent enough to match the beauty of the book.

I have been a long time fan of Sonya Hartnett. I have vivid memories of the first time I read her work (Sleeping Dogs ~ I was 14 and reading that book stirred something deep deep inside me & the reading of it is a favourite reading memory of mine).

I am not entirely sure why she has been labelled...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Tania rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-books

3.5 stars. I absolutely adored this book, it combines two of my favourite genres - historical fiction and fantasy. While the story broke my heart, it was also uplifting. The midnight zoo reminded me of The boy in striped pajamas and Life of Pi. Sonya Hartnett's writing has a magical and dreamlike quality to it, and I can't wait to read her other stories. "In the clouds above the village, the legendary black-cad horseman who is Night noticed the silence and reined in his steed, which is also blac...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Catherine Z rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

A captivating, beautifully described fable that captures the heart of the war in a wonderfully described relationship between two children and animals. It tells the tale of a very real event through the eyes of the young, and in the eyes of the ones that view the war it encapsulates the essence of life and why we fight today. This mesmerizing tale made me really think about the past, the present and the future, and metaphorically, made me see the world of Andrej and Tomas in the world we live in...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Samantha K rated it 4 of 5 stars

What an interesting book..hmm.

I did like the descriptiveness of this novel. Some people might say: "Ugh, it's so boring, too complicated and blah" but I felt that the language really set the mood and scene.

I was a bit con

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Dec 13, 2012 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

I found this in a giveaway box in my new DC neighborhood a few weeks ago and loved the cover and the premise - two young boys travel a war-ravaged town with an infant and stumble upon a zoo. The animals have been abandoned by the zoo keeper but it's a safe place to be so the boys take cover for the night. The animals can talk (of course) and eventually the back story about how they've all come to be in that place is revealed.

There were some really beautiful descriptions and some cool fantasy-li...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Patricia Hruby Powell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At times when you’re sad or grieving, rather than needing to laugh, it could be better to delve deep into your grief to find what you need. Perhaps you’ll read the perfect book at the precise moment you need it. “Midnight Zoo,” by Sonya Hartnett (Candlewick 2010) was that book for me. This haunting story broke my heart, then lifted me up.
Andrej, twelve, is a “Rom” or Gypsy boy traveling through war-torn WWII Europe with his brother Tomas, nine. They guard a mysterious bundle, traveling under cov...more At times when you’re sad or grieving, rather than needing to laugh, it could be better to delve deep into your grief to find what you need. Perhaps you’ll read the perfect book at the precise moment you need it. “Midnight Zoo,” by Sonya Hartnett (Candlewick 2010) was that book for me. This haunting story broke my heart, then lifted me up.
Andrej, twelve, is a “Rom” or Gypsy boy traveling through war-torn WWII Europe with his brother Tomas, nine. They guard a mysterious bundle, traveling under cover of night.
Andrej’s father had told him, it’s not our war, it’s the “gadje” war, don’t worry. Yet for some reason the Nazis hated Gypsies. So, the story is told from a point of innocence—not just the innocence of a child, but from a culture outside of the warring culture. Andrej remembers his uncle saying, We gypsies are wildcat people. The earth and sky belong to us.
The brothers, escaping the Nazis, find a small zoo in a bombed out town. The caged animals are in need of hope, as are the boys. The animals communicate, but rather than being sentimentalized, they are cantankerous and seem true to their wild behavior.
The animals are dangerous, but don’t they deserve to be freed? Young Tomas’s major concern is the unfairness of life and his proposed solutions are childish. Andrej who is leaving childhood behind, thinks, “Sometimes…being courageous was the least safe thing in the world.” But to overcome your fear is what living is.
The embittered lioness accuses Andrej of being responsible for the war. Andrej tells the lioness, “Every war is everyone’s war.” “Every life is everyone’s battle.”
The boar accuses Andrej that he, as a human, would kill a lioness to take her cub back to civilization to make it a pet. But it will grow up to become a lion. Then what? The lion gets caged, then abandoned in wartime. “You persecute the creatures you fear.”
Both the human and animal characters explore profound ideas. Life is a battle fought alone. Why does war happen? Because humans WANT something. And nothing is more important than that wanting.
Andrea Offerman’s cover art has the animals looking at you imploringly, as if asking, can you be the one? And you, the reader, want to be the one--who will help.

Patricia Hruby Powell (www.talesforallages.com) is a nationally touring speaker, dancer, storyteller, librarian and children’s book author. You can see see the book cover on her blog at www.talesforallages.com/reviews/
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Jun 12, 2012 Caren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children, ya

Upon finishing this book, I have come to the end of this year's Carnegie shortlist, and just in time, as the award will be announced in two days time. All of the books on the list this year are so awfully good; I am glad to have spent time lost in their pages. Will this lovely, poetic book win? Personally, I think not. Still, it is an unusual, philosophical book, well worth reading. It is a fine example of magical realism whose author has been honored with the 2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award...more Upon finishing this book, I have come to the end of this year's Carnegie shortlist, and just in time, as the award will be announced in two days time. All of the books on the list this year are so awfully good; I am glad to have spent time lost in their pages. Will this lovely, poetic book win? Personally, I think not. Still, it is an unusual, philosophical book, well worth reading. It is a fine example of magical realism whose author has been honored with the 2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The story is set during war time, probably WWII, in an unnamed eastern European country. The children, two brothers and a baby sister, are gypsies whose family and friends were marched off into the forest by soldiers to an ominous, unspecified fate. At the last moment, their mother turned and shouted to them, as they hid among the trees, to run away. Because her words were in their own language, the soldiers didn't understand her, and the boys were undetected. While traveling the bombed out countryside, they come upon a small abandoned zoo. The animals, locked within, begin telling the boys their tales (and at this point, the magical realism begins). The most difficult part of the book for me to fathom was the end. It becomes even more fanciful and philosophical and , realist that I am, I kept readjusting my understanding of what it could really mean. I'll let the reader make his own interpretation. I did mark many passages as being just beautifully written and very lyrical. There are deep questions about life to be considered, questions of finding one's true place and of what sorts of responsibilities freedom requires of one. Here is a thought the older brother has: "...he must go forward into the darkness bravely and alone because the strong are duty-bound to protect the weak, it is a law of nature and thus of rightness: and in that instant Andrej understood that the soldiers and their leader were not obeying this law, and that any victory they achieved wouldn't last because nature's law would not be overthrown." (p. 113-114)
Here is Andrej thinking again: "No, I'm not in a cage, but--I don't feel free. If you're free, you should be safe. And I don't feel safe. I always feel...hunted." The llama's tufted ears turned: "How peculiar! You can go anywhere your feet take you, and yet you're not free. There are no bars around you, yet you're in a funny kind of cage. That isn't fair." "Cages come and get you" murmured the kangaroo. (p. 164)
Here is a passage that seemed strongly reminiscent of Anne Frank to me:
Yet for all that, he still trusted. It amazed him to discover it: that underneath his grief and disenchantment, his belief in a good world was still there. And the more difficult it became to find the goodness, the more certain he was in his faith that it was there. (p. 182)
And finally, here is a lovely little passage toward the end of the book:
"Freedom always sounds nice." The llama spoke up primly. "But is it clever? If we leave the zoo, who'll take care of us?.....What if something bad happens?....
"It is scary, sometimes," Tomas admitted. "But the scary bits are what make you brave."
"You'll just have to believe us," said Andrej. "You're not supposed to have iron bars around you---no one is supposed to have that. You're supposed to fall down hills and get lonely, and find your own food and get wet when it rains. That's what happens when you're alive."
"When you're filling your space," said the bear. (p. 193-194)

I imagine this as a book not truly meant for young children. This is a book to be discussed, perhaps by younger teens on up. (less)

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Jun 09, 2012 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am having real trouble with this year's Carnegie shortlist. I keep reading books that move me, that knock my socks off, that have such pognant moments of truth that I immediately think: who can I recommend this book to... I loved this one.

A lot of people are talking about the age group for this book, the it might be too mature for a young audience, but I disagree. It is the kind of story that can be enjoyed in many levels. Different readers will take different things away, and I do feel like...more

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May 30, 2012 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Immediately after reading the text(an hour ago)I felt that the story didn't go anywhere. I had heard so many good things about the book, how beautiful it is. I felt and still feel dissapointed. I can see how it is well written, however I felt totally detached from the story. I do not think the text is engaging, there are less then a handful of times in which I actually read something that grabbed my attention.

My opinion over the last hour has only changed slightly, having given it further though...more

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May 21, 2012 Big Book Little Book rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alison for Big Book Little Book

I really struggled with this book. Had it not been on the Carnegie shortlist I’m not sure I would have finished it. It took me three weeks to read, an incredibly long time for me, especially as at 192 pages this is a really short book. I’m not sure why I struggled so much. This is a beautifully written, thought provoking book, from a distance I can tell that it is incredibly well written. That, however, I think may be the problem, I view this book from a distance....more

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Apr 13, 2012 Barb Middleton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, realistic, ya

This is one of those books I think English teachers and adults will love, but I'm not so sure about younger kids. It won the 2011 Children's Book Council of Australia award and while it has a reading level for students at the end of 5th grade, most young readers won't be able to comprehend all that is going on. Shoot, I had problems figuring out all that was going on. The story unfolds with bits and pieces scattered like breadcrumbs so that you need to have some background knowledge to guess whe...more This is one of those books I think English teachers and adults will love, but I'm not so sure about younger kids. It won the 2011 Children's Book Council of Australia award and while it has a reading level for students at the end of 5th grade, most young readers won't be able to comprehend all that is going on. Shoot, I had problems figuring out all that was going on. The story unfolds with bits and pieces scattered like breadcrumbs so that you need to have some background knowledge to guess where the story takes place... and I guarantee... you won't know where the story is going or how it will end. By the time I figured out the setting, I was well into the chapters. That aside, this is a beautifully told story with rich metaphors and lyrical text. Sonya Hartnett is an amazing writer.

Night is personified as a black-clad horseman who uses the moon as a lantern casting its light on a village that has been decimated by war. Night is surprised to see two young boys walking in the rubble. The tone of this fable is set with Night as the narrator introducing a theatrical play against a grim background, shining a spotlight on the two major characters, Andrej and Tomas.

The boys meander through the destroyed village with Hartnett's text creating haunting images that assault the senses: "A flotilla of clouds as dense as battleships was unmoored by the gale, and, when the clouds coasted across the moon, the light of Night's lantern was quenched. Darkness was thrown over the village like a sorcerer's cloak: Andrej heard Tomas whimper, and felt him catch at his sleeve." The two scavenge for food in the village and find an abandoned zoo where the animals can talk. The boys not only have to feed themselves, but their baby sister whom they carry in a backpack and needs tending to as well. The boys read the words in the zoo sprawled over the animals cages that are in Czech. The author doesn't tell you the language is Czech... I just googled the words. This is your first clue to the setting. Several chapters later the wolf calls the boys, "Rom" and gypsy children, so now I know that the story is taking place in World War II when the Nazi's tried to exterminate the gypsies along with the Jews. Again, this isn't explained and you have to come with a certain amount of background knowledge. The Holocaust isn't taught until middle school so most 5th graders are not going to connect the dots.

The boys have animal characteristics and the animals have human characteristics. I thought the story slowed down in the parts where the animals were preaching about the evils of humans and zoos and war. This book doesn't build the story in a subtle way like The One and Only Ivan. No, it is more in-your-face and for the most part, one-sided. The strength of the story is in the style, tone, and symbolism; more-so than the narrative and heavy-handed themes delivered by the animals.

The violence involves Nazi's shooting children and adults, a train being blown up, animals being mistreated, and three siblings losing their parents. Andrej has to think like an adult in order to survive and while there are moments that show him as a kid, such as when the two pretend to be airplanes careening through the village, most of the time he is worrying about his two siblings. The story is propped against the harsh backdrop of war and the themes of freedom and war are filtered throughout with an abundance of symbolism and parallels between humans and animals. It is well-known that gypsies highly value freedom and choosing the main characters with that ethnicity makes the loss of freedom more poignant; plus, their nomadic existence is similar to the animals in the zoo who don't live in one place but cover territories when in the wild. Both the animals and the gypsies in this story have lost their freedom and while the animals physically enclosed behind bars, the gypsies are caged by prejudices and are enclosed by invisible iron bars. There is so much symbolism that I cannot cover it in a review. There is a good teacher's guide if you want to go more in-depth with Hartnett's writing.

The dream-like unfinished ending is different and has gotten mixed reviews. The author explains “Yes, I like leaving lots of frayed ends in my books. I write for people who like to think about what they’re reading, so I litter the books with falsehoods and unanswered questions and minor suggestions of major events. I really hate the idea that I must tell the reader everything in clunking detail. The reader is part of the experience that is a book, and I like the reader to have some input into the creation of the work – to decide what happens in the end, if need be. It’s why I never write sequels – the notion of hammering something out to utter flatness is ghastly to me. I will never tell a reader that the way they’ve read a book is wrong. Every thoughtful reading is a correct reading, as far as I can see”. See what I mean about her writing? Even her interview has terrific word choices and descriptions.
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Mar 02, 2012 Nicola rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reason for Reading: The story intrigued me as I enjoy WWII historical fiction and animal fantasy. How the two could be combined into a successful book had me wanting to read and find out.

Set in WWII, the story follows two Gypsy children who have managed to escape the wipe out of their family camp. The setting of the book is never given, though it is obviously Eastern Europe. There are signs in a foreign language and after researching that language and then double checking to see if Romany (Roms)...more Reason for Reading: The story intrigued me as I enjoy WWII historical fiction and animal fantasy. How the two could be combined into a successful book had me wanting to read and find out.

Set in WWII, the story follows two Gypsy children who have managed to escape the wipe out of their family camp. The setting of the book is never given, though it is obviously Eastern Europe. There are signs in a foreign language and after researching that language and then double checking to see if Romany (Roms) were persecuted in that country during WWII, I've ascertained the country in question is the Czech Republic. The story never really grabbed me, I have a fifty page rule, where I will stop reading a book at 50 pages if it hasn't caught my attention and I almost stopped reading at page 56 because I had just been hit on the head with the fact that I was about to be "taught. a. lesson." and was not impressed, however I decided to finish the chapter and picked up a bit of plot that did keep me reading the entire short book.

I can't really say it was time well spent. The whole book is very "in-your-face" with the lessons and messages it wants to convey. Humans treat animals badly, even when they love them, and not always on purpose, but wild animals deserve freedom. Animals are not a part of any war and yet they suffer for it. Following suit, the gypsies were not at war with anyone, it was not their war, they only wanted freedom and yet it was taken away from then and they suffered. And so on ... the war is nobody's, yet they all suffer from it when the invaders/aggressors come. The book's main theme is freedom. The freedom of animals to live in the wild, not zoos, not under human control, the freedom of humans to live in peace, not in the middle of someone else's war.

This is all very idealistic and "nice" in a perfect world but this isn't a perfect world. When does someone else's war become your own war? When your neighbours are carted away? When the next street over is bombed to pieces? Or not until it is your own family stolen in the night or your house bombed to smithereens? Perhaps then it is still not your war? Do you suffer in silence, or do something about it?

Add to this idealistic message a strange magical realism aspect where animals in an abandoned zoo talk to the Gypsy children and all belief was thrown out the window for me. I am a big fan of animal fantasy, so talking animals don't necessarily turn me off, they just need to be in *their* world for me to suspend belief. Zoo animals talking to Rom children in the middle of WWII just goes way beyond my believability factor and coupled with the "beat you on the head" fable and moral of the story, I just was not impressed. (less)

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Dec 23, 2011 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This brief, harrowing, but ultimately hopeful, fable, puts us in the minds and hearts of two young Romany boys, Andrej and Tomas, during World War II. The boys and their baby sister are the only survivors of a massacre. On their travels, they come across a bombed village with a zoo in the middle. The only living things in this village are the animals in the zoo. Children and animals begin to share their stories-

If this book isn't as well-reviewed as it should be, that may be because it is hard t...more

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Dec 07, 2011 Pamela Kramer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett is a touching story about two Gypsy boys who escape with their baby sister when the Nazis round up their family and take them away. (Although the setting is World War II, the setting could also be anywhere in the world where there is war, today or fifty years ago.)

Andrej and his brother, Tomas, run across the country caring for Wilma, their infant sister. Andrej saw what the soldiers did to his uncle, shooting him without a second thought. He doesn't understand...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed the midnight zoo because of a few details. I was told from a younger perspective and an adult perspective of WWII can be very graphic. Although most of the book was non graphic there was one chapter which would, in my opinion, make it hard to call it juvinile.

The rest of the bok was great, the idea of talking animals was well done and the brother's sense of duty to take care of their baby sister and the caged animals was great. Overall i would definently recommend this book.

SPOI...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett is a magical tale of three children who find a zoo in the midst of a war torn country. Andrej, a Roma was forced to run with his brother and his baby sister after Nazi's capture his community. At the zoo they find that the animals can talk and they share their stories.

This book felt more like real literature than most middle grade books do. It has lots of big concepts that provide lots of potential for real thought and the prose was beautiful. I do wish that th...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Lulu rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Midnight Zoo is an intriguing tale of two boys who travel across a war ridden country by themselves carrying their baby sister. One night while going through a destroyed town they find a perfectly untouched zoo. Filled with animals they discover a world which may look like a piece of perfection but in its own way it has been shattered by the war.
This book had definite potential. The setting was one that is not common and the way the animals and the boy's past were told was complex and intere...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Ms Tlaskal added it · review of another edition

Read this today, took a couple of hours and I was enchanted. Could be an Outsiders book, what with the two main protagonists being gypsies' 'people jeer at those who are different from themselves- those who look different, or think differently, or live in different ways. They do it because difference is a frightening thing- sometimes an enviable thing.'

The actual setting is unclear- I am thinking Poland in the second world war and two boys are running away with no parents and their little baby s...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Sam Piper rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, carnegie-2012

A fabulous book! At its most literal level!

Reading the blurb of this, the fate of Romany children in Eastern Europe during World War II was an appealing on. Then it mentioned that they come across animals in a zoo which talk to them.

Talking animals have never appealed to me: Mrs Frisbee, Beatrix Potter, Disney... Anthropomorphised, twee, patronising ... Oddly I do like magic realism but the idea of talking animals curdles the blood.

This, however, works. And works brilliantly.

Andrej and Tomas...more A fabulous book! At its most literal level!

Reading the blurb of this, the fate of Romany children in Eastern Europe during World War II was an appealing on. Then it mentioned that they come across animals in a zoo which talk to them.

Talking animals have never appealed to me: Mrs Frisbee, Beatrix Potter, Disney... Anthropomorphised, twee, patronising ... Oddly I do like magic realism but the idea of talking animals curdles the blood.

This, however, works. And works brilliantly.

Andrej and Tomas are fleeing Nazi persecution having witnessed their family and friends gathered and led into the forest bearing shovels. It is implicit that they are being executed. Told to flee by their mother, they do so and end up in a ruined razed village. There, Night (who almost acts in the same way as Death in The Book Thief) spots them as they slip into the only building standing: the zoo. After being knocked out by a bomb raid, Andrej and Tomas hear the animals talking. It is not clear whether the remainder of the novel is Andrej's delusion or genuine. In fact the boundaries between narrative truth, history, fiction, dream, story and fantasy are not clear throughout the book.

The animals tell their stories to the children and whether we truly believe them - for example, the lioness appeared to have ended up in the zoo after she mauled the bride of the hunter who had stolen her - in my opinion, becomes irrelevant. Because the stories have power. A truth that exists beyond pedantic accuracy.

I can see many people reacting to this novel negatively and seeing only superficial meanings: zoos are bad; wars are horrible. The heart of the book, however, is deeper than that: it is in the beautiful lyricism of the prose (some of the sentences are truly stunning!) and in the power and value of story telling.

This book has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2012. As has Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls in which the eponymous Monster tells Conor, the main character, three stories in exchange for a story back from Conor. Hartnett's tale shows the power of story to overcome the horrors of war; Ness' shows the power of story to overcome the horrors of a parent's illness. Both books are stunning! (less)

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Nov 08, 2011 Jo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: down-under, good-grief, gorgeous-prose, ya

“No bird in a cage ever speaks. What is there to say? The sky is everywhere, churning above its head, blue and endless, calling out to it. But the caged bird can’t answer anything except I cannot”

I think I read this book all wrong.
I think I was reading too much into it or, as the case probably is, not into it enough.

I’ll start with the things I didn’t like because I’m the kind of girl who likes to get the bad news first so it’s out of the way and I can be consoled and wrap myself in the fuzzy w...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Anna rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, carnegie-2012

On the Carnegie shortlist for 2012 though I can't think why. The style is overblown, I can't work out who the audience is supposed to be and I can't see the point of the story: war is bad? war has innocent victims? there are no solutions to the horrors of life? dreams are merely dreams? death is the answer to everything?
The basic narrative is of 2 Romany children Andrej and Tomas caught up in the 2nd world war, struggling to survive after their clan is wiped out. They stumble across a small zoo...more

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May 25, 2012 Milly Webster rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I feel really bad about saying this, but I really didn't like this book. In fact the only reason I kept reading it was because it was short and quite an easy read. When I suggested that I might read this for book club, I thought, no big deal, probably take me an hour or two. After I read the first 50 pages on Monday, I realized this might take me a while. I said to myself, you'll finish it on Tuesday, so you can read another book, I finished it on Thursday. I still feel as if I've missed somethi...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Linda Lipko rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: carneige-medal-shortlist-2012

Set in WWII, two young (Rom) gypsy boys witness the killing of their community by the hands of soldiers. Deep in the woods, they seek refuge. Walking by night and hiding my day they adhere to their mother's last works "run!"

They carry a bundle containing their baby sister. While it would have been easier to leave her behind, their moral/ethical base commands them to take care of her.
Tired, weary and hungry the bedraggled, motley family stumble upon a zoo deep in the woods.

This book contains magi...more

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May 31, 2012 Candy Wood added it · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-ya

A fascinating blend of grim realism and fantasy, The Midnight Zoo exposes both the cruelty and futility of war and the selfishness involved when humans shut animals up in zoos. The setting is somewhere in Eastern Europe, where Andrej and Tomas and their baby sister are fleeing Nazi invaders (never named, but the soldiers who killed their uncle and probably the rest of their Rom clan spoke German) and spend one night in a zoo where only the caged animals remain. Vivid flashbacks fill in the stori...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Laura Lee Anderson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beautifully written, I'm sure some people love this book much more than I do. (Hence the fact that it's short-listed for the Carnegie). In my opinion, this "middle-grade" book was written to win awards, not necessarily for children. The poetic language is too lofty for children to read to themselves, and the themes are too dark for read-aloud stories.

Two gypsy boys and their baby sister happen upon an abandoned zoo during WWII, and that is really the extent of the plot. Other than that, it's ju...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Mel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really wanted to like this story. It is, without a doubt, beautifully written and Hartnett's lyrical descriptions of feelings, events and the characters creates vivid imagery for the reader. I loved this aspect of the novel.

As a story, it starts with promise, but then I felt it lapsed into preaching about freedom. I have no problem with fables, but the delivery of this stories message was not very authentic.

The characters of Andrey and Tomas are accessible and they are very likeable. We feel...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

I was chosen to receive this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Thank You!

I loved this story until the final five paragraphs. Before reading those concluding thoughts, this would have been a 5-star book. If the rating system allowed me I would give it 4.75-stars.

As I read, I felt the author was painting a beautiful portrait. I was taken in by her words and found myself deeply moved. I loved what she was able to say without actually putting it into words. However, the ending weakened th...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Maureen Milton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: intermediates, seniors

I just finished The Midnight Zoo and wondered why, after all of its fanfare, I didn't LOVE it. Vaguely set in WWII in eastern Europe, this fabulist account of two Romany boys who flee at their mother's behest when their camp is raided by German-speaking soldiers (whom they learn will readily kill them) opens beautifully. ("Taking his vast and circular lantern, the moon, Night brushed aside a constellation of stars and came closer....") In their travels, the children come upon an abandoned privat...more I just finished The Midnight Zoo and wondered why, after all of its fanfare, I didn't LOVE it. Vaguely set in WWII in eastern Europe, this fabulist account of two Romany boys who flee at their mother's behest when their camp is raided by German-speaking soldiers (whom they learn will readily kill them) opens beautifully. ("Taking his vast and circular lantern, the moon, Night brushed aside a constellation of stars and came closer....") In their travels, the children come upon an abandoned private zoo, with a handful of animals trapped facing each other in a circular prison. At night the animals are able to talk and they exchange their stories with the children (accompanied, we learn, by a remarkably subdued infant sister). In the end, after much contemplation of the nature of war, freedom and independence, we are left to ponder the uncertain fates of all of the characters.

Initially, I was impressed by the poetic language (characteristic of the writing throughout), which lends to the books fable-like story. This same quality, though, feels tiresome as we are admonished, "'Never mind that their kind have seized so much wolf territory, cut down our trees, set traps in our ground...'" by the wolf who disparages human greediness beyond the ravages of "'your war.'" Each of the creatures' stories, told alternately with the children's story articulates human cruelty toward the animals as objects of greed, entertainment, or neglect. Although this book is short and I agree with its sentiments and I appreciated the carefully crafted writing, it took some time to read, perhaps because the stories were interesting but not compelling. The penultimate chapter provides us a Marquez moment of magical relief and hope, and we are left at the end to wonder.

For this reader, the Everybear quality of the bear or the Everychamois quality of the chamois created emotional distance & the children were distinctive by description but not by development. We are told of Andrej, the older brother, "that underneath his grief and disenchantment, his belief in a good world was still there. And the more difficult it became to find the goodness, the more certain he was in his faith that it was there." Andrej later assures the animals, anxious at the prospect of freedom: "'Your supposed to fall down hills and get lonely, and find your own food and get wet when it rains. That's what happens when you're alive.'" None of this is bad; I just didn't love it, even though I wanted to. I plan to give it to a few of my 6th graders who love a good weeper and see how they respond. Maybe the text's blend fantasy and didacticism will translate well to a younger audience. (less)

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Jul 10, 2012 Gemma Wiseman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: casey-grammar-library

Here is a novel about children but hardly for children. It needs an adult audience (touting some historical baggage) who seeks a glimpse of a child's world. Here are the Rom, those gypsy wanderers persecuted alongside the Jews in Hitler's madness. And Andrej, Tomas and Wilma are parentless, Rom children. But don't seek some historical jaunt. Feel the cursed? wandering spirit of a child seeking answers of place and identity. What is freedom? There are many kinds of freedoms and hungers. The anima...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a beautifully written book that I'm still thinking about today. It follows young gypsy children who have been traveling by themselves for weeks, through bombed and ruined villages and countrysides, until they find a small zoo with starving and forgotten animals in the middle of an otherwise destroyed town. What follows from there is fable and fantasy, or is it?

I'm not sure this is a book for children, although it is billed as juvenile fiction and was in the junior section of our library....more

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About Sonya Hartnett

Sonya Hartnett (also works under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern) is, or was, something of an Australian child prodigy author. She wrote her first novel at the age of thirteen, and had it published at fifteen. Her books have also been published in Europe and North America. Her novels have been published traditionally as young adult fiction, but her writing often crosses the divide and is also enj...more Sonya Hartnett (also works under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern) is, or was, something of an Australian child prodigy author. She wrote her first novel at the age of thirteen, and had it published at fifteen. Her books have also been published in Europe and North America. Her novels have been published traditionally as young adult fiction, but her writing often crosses the divide and is also enjoyed by adults.

"I chose to narrate the story through a child because people like children, they WANT to like them," says Sonya Hartnett of THURSDAY'S CHILD, her brilliantly original coming-of-age story set during the Great Depression. "Harper [the young narrator] is the reason you get sucked into the characters. Even I, who like to distance myself from my characters, felt protective of her."

The acclaimed author of several award-winning young adult novels--the first written when she was just 13--Australian native Sonya Hartnett says she wrote THURSDAY'S CHILD in a mere three months. "It just pulled itself together," she says. "I'd wanted to set a story in the Depression for some time, in an isolated community that was strongly supportive. Once the dual ideas of the boy who tunneled and the young girl as narrator gelled, it almost wrote itself--I had the cast, I had the setting, I just said 'go.' " Accustomed to writing about edgy young adult characters, Sonya Hartnett says that identifying with a seven-year-old protagonist was a challenge at first. "I found her difficult to approach," she admits. "I'm not really used to children. But once I started, I found you could have fun with her: she could tell lies, she could deny the truth." Whereas most children know "only what adults want them to know," the author discovered she could bypass that limitation by "turning Harper into an eavesdropper and giving her older siblings to reveal realities."

In her second book with Candlewick Press, WHAT THE BIRDS SEE, Sonya Hartnett once again creates a portrait of childhood. This time the subject is Adrian, a nine-year-old boy living in the suburbs with his gran and Uncle. For Adrian, childhood is shaped by fear: his dread of quicksand, shopping centers, and self-combustion. Then one day, three neighborhood children vanish--an incident based on a real case in Australia in the 1960s--and Adrian comes to see just how tenuous his safety net is. In speaking about Adrian, the author provocatively reveals parallels between herself and her character. She says, "Adrian is me in many respects, and many of the things that happen to him happened to me."

Sonya Hartnett's consistently inspired writing has built her a legion of devotees. Of THURSDAY'S CHILD, Newbery Honor-winning author Carolyn Coman says, "Hartnett's beautifully rendered vision drew me in from the very start and carried me along, above and under ground, to the very end. This book amazed me." The achingly beautiful WHAT THE BIRDS SEE has just as quickly garnered critical acclaim. Notes PUBLISHERS WEEKLY in a starred review, "Hartnett again captures the ineffable fragility of childhood in this keenly observed tale. . . . Sophisticated readers will appreciate the work's acuity and poetic integrity." Sonya Hartnett's third young adult novel, STRIPES OF THE SIDESTEP WOLF was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.

Sonya Hartnett lives near Melbourne, Australia. Her most recent novels are SURRENDER, a mesmerizing psychological thriller, and THE SILVER DONKEY, a gently told fable for middle-grade readers.(less)

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Quotes from The Midnight Zoo

“You're not supposed to have iron bars around you - no one is supposed to have that. You're supposed to fall down hills and get lonely, and find your own food and get wet when it rains. That's what happens when you're alive.” — 8 people liked it

“No bird in a cage ever speaks. What is there to say? The sky is everywhere, churning above its head, blue and endless, calling out to it. But the caged bird can't answer anything except 'I cannot'.” — 7 people liked it

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