ABC Zoo

by Rod Campbell

With this first alphabet book from Rod Campbell, children can learn both their ABC and the names of animals! Clearly presented, packed full of animals, there are flaps to lift and all sorts of fun to be had.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

20 pages, Board book

First published September 2, 1997

About the author

He was brought up in Zimbabwe and returned to Britain where he completed a doctorate in organic chemistry. In 1980 he became involved in children's publishing where he began designing innovative books with interactive elements and repetitive phrases.

In 1987 he founded Campbell Blackie Books in partnership with his publisher Blackie. Campbell Books (as it became in 1989) was sold in 1995 to Macmillan Publishers.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is poorly drawn and not that well-designed. Only the flaps gimmick gets it read in this house. And it's about animals, they're toddler porn.

[I'mogén · Rating 3 out of 5]

Purchased for my nephew's birthday! I like the level of learning for the age group with learning the alphabet and some animals. As another reviewer mentioned, the flaps could be a bit more imaginative, but overall a decent, fun, little learning tool.

[Leonie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can take or leave Rod's books and didn't warn to this one very much at all. The animals are a bit left field and the flaps to lift a little uninspiring. Still, it has taught my little expat Aussie to say koala so it's not all bad.

[Peter Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover gives away P

[OxoNewbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book with nice illustrations. It's good to see some unusual creatures in there e.g. umbrella bird and x-ray fish; not only did my child learn things, I also learnt something new too. Lift-the-flaps adds an interactive element.

An extra star because the author/editor used an animal for each letter and didn't cop out like some other A -Z books by using a word tenuously linked to the topic instead.

4 stars.

[Pennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent book, but my flap lifting loving daughter was unenthused by the fact that not every picture, or even every page, had flaps on it.

[Elizabeth]

Not enough flaps for a "lift-the-flap" book.

[Mama Bearian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple animal alphabet with one animal for each letter is made even better by fun flaps to lift. Little ones will love all of the animals in this book, and the interactive flaps!

[TwoDrinks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would buy this. I do love Rod Campbell's illustrations and I like how this ABC is all animals. Every time I get to U, I get thrown by Umbrellabird. Given the choice of animals starting with a U I can see why Campbell chose Umbrellabird. At the end of the book there is a picture of the whole zoo (the one from Buster's Zoo in fact) and there are a few pop outs. I do like the way the pop outs always match perfectly with the rest of the picture. In this book, the hippo's mouth is the best. I'd definitely buy this book.