Wild About You!

by Judy Sierra, Marc Brown (Illustrator)

Overview

The tree kangaroo at the zoo would like nothing more than a baby of her own. So, when a new egg arrives via the endangered species van, the 'roo jumps at the chance to take care of it, even when no one else wants it. Soon, out comes a penguin and all the animals chip in to help because, as the tree kangaroo says, "Penguins eat fishes."  

Told in Judy Sierra's classic rollicking rhyme, and paired with Marc Brown's breathtaking folk-art style paintings, Wild About You! is another delightful collaboration from this New York Times bestselling duo that fans of Wild About Books and ZooZical will want to adopt for their own book collections.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307931788
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	08/07/2012
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.38(w) x 12.22(h) x 0.44(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

JUDY SIERRA is the author many bestselling and critically acclaimed children's books, including The Sleepy Little Alphabet; Born to Read; Mind Your Manners, B.B. Wolf; Tell the Truth, B.B. Wolf; Suppose You Meet a Dinosaur; and the New York Times bestseller Wild About Books and it's follow-up, ZooZical.

MARC BROWN, best known as the creator of the Arthur books and TV show, has drawn on his love of American folk art in his paintings for Wild About Books,ZooZical, and now Wild About You!

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, May 28, 2012:
“Sierra hints at parenthood’s more trying moments, yet what resonates loudest is unconditional love…  the mixed-species adoptions quietly affirm the value of families in all their varieties.”

School Library Journal, June, 2012:
"The joyful illustrations feature the same pointy-faced animals as in the two previous books… Fans of Wild About Books (2004) and ZooZical (2011, both Knopf) will flock to this one as well."

Horn Book, July/ August, 2012:
"Children will love one spread in particular in which the baby animals are hiding but can be spotted by observant eyes… this is a good choice both for group sharing and as a loving bedtime story."

Kirkus, May 15, 2012:
"In lively rhyming couplets that beg to be read aloud, Sierra's zoo animals are back, this time proving that it takes a village zoo to raise children… Bright colors and bold patterns fill the pages, but the true stars are the animals, whose mutual affection shines through on every page."

Editorial Reviews

Sierra and Brown return to Springfield Zoo in this baby-themed follow-up to Wild About Books and ZooZical. Sierra’s couplets are as sharp and witty as ever, with a distinct Seussian vibe. Watching other animals with their offspring, a tree kangaroo and a panda couple announce that they want babies, too. When a rescue worker arrives with an endangered egg, the tree kangaroo volunteers to hatch it, and the pandas adopt a small orange kitten. The other animals pitch in to help the adoptive parents, proving that “It takes a whole zoo” to raise a baby. Working in the same angular, heavily patterned style of the previous books, Brown offers active yet comforting spreads of the animals with their children (one scene invites readers to find the zoo babies that have wandered off). Sierra hints at parenthood’s more trying moments, yet what resonates loudest is unconditional love: “Penguins don’t fly. Penguins never sing sweetly,” says the tree kangaroo to the newborn chick. “But that doesn’t matter. I love you completely!” Furthermore, the mixed-species adoptions quietly affirm the value of families in all their varieties. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, May 28, 2012:
“Sierra hints at parenthood’s more trying moments, yet what resonates loudest is unconditional love…  the mixed-species adoptions quietly affirm the value of families in all their varieties.”

School Library Journal, June, 2012:
"The joyful illustrations feature the same pointy-faced animals as in the two previous books… Fans of Wild About Books (2004) and ZooZical (2011, both Knopf) will flock to this one as well."

Horn Book, July/ August, 2012:
"Children will love one spread in particular in which the baby animals are hiding but can be spotted by observant eyes… this is a good choice both for group sharing and as a loving bedtime story."

Kirkus, May 15, 2012:
"In lively rhyming couplets that beg to be read aloud, Sierra's zoo animals are back, this time proving that it takes a village zoo to raise children… Bright colors and bold patterns fill the pages, but the true stars are the animals, whose mutual affection shines through on every page."

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2—Sierra and Brown are back with their third title featuring amiable zoo animals. This time these denizens are all having babies, all except the tree kangaroo and the pandas. Even though some parents say that the babies are bothersome, none of them will give theirs up to the childless ones. When a van from Animal Rescue delivers an endangered egg, all of the birds refuse it, but the tree kangaroo offers her pouch. After a while a baby penguin hatches. The kangaroo loves it completely but acknowledges that she needs help raising it. Penguins eat fish and that is not something she is capable of supplying. The other animals are happy to lend a hand. That leaves the pandas as the only childless couple. A small kitten finds Ms. Panda and quickly adopts her. And again the other animals pitch in with Mama Tiger providing milk for the little one. This is an upbeat adoption story. The punch line is, "Every kid needs a family, we know that it's true./And to bring up a baby… it takes a whole zoo!" The joyful illustrations feature the same pointy-faced animals as in the two previous books. The pictures are done with watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils on wood panels. Fans of Wild About Books (2004) and ZooZical (2011, both Knopf) will flock to this one as well.—Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI

School Library Journal

In lively rhyming couplets that beg to be read aloud, Sierra's zoo animals are back, this time proving that it takes a village zoo to raise children…especially when those children are adopted. The new batch of zoo babies finds the tree kangaroo and the panda couple bemoaning their lack of offspring. But while the crocodiles list all the reasons why babies are awful ("mountains of poo" are mentioned), they simply cannot give their children to the pandas, since they "LOVE THEM COMPLETELY." The tree kangaroo jumps at the opportunity to tuck a mystery egg into her pouch to hatch. Her penguin chick, while not what she expected or dreamed of, is just perfect. Meanwhile, the still-childless pandas get a surprise of their own in the form of a stray kitten. Both of the new little families are tenderly watched over by the other zoo inhabitants. The "pandacat" and "pengaroo" are each the answer to their parents' wishes, as is more than evident from both the text and Brown's watercolor, gouache and colored-pencil illustrations. Bright colors and bold patterns fill the pages, but the true stars are the animals, whose mutual affection shines through on every page. While human adoptions may never be this random and unexpected (and have been covered by the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis and Rose Lewis), this nicely captures the cross-species bonds animals sometimes form. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews

Almost all the animals at the Springfield Zoo have new babies, except for the tree kangaroos and the pandas. They really would like to. So when an egg from an "endangered species" arrives at the zoo, and none of the birds will take it, the tree kangaroo offers to hatch it in her pouch. It seems to be a penguin. The tree kangaroo is delighted anyway. Puffins bring fish for it to eat; flamingos invite it to play; it begins to hop! The still gloomy pandas cheer up when a kitten jumps into Ms. Panda's lap one day. Tigers bring it milk; meerkats play with it. The jolly verses end with a note: "And to bring up a baby...IT TAKES A WHOLE ZOO!" On the jacket most of the animals of the zoo are staring at a large white egg; the end pages add to the egg's significance by displaying a score more, some cracking open. Brown visualizes folk-art-like animals and plants on large double pages using watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils on prepared wooden panels. He conveys their interest, involvement, and emotions as curiosity about the egg leads to happy cooperation helping with the new arrivals, a much-loved pengaroo and pandacat.

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