Zooprise Party by Rebekha Delgado--Book Review

A delightful and entertaining bilingual story of friendship is waiting to be discovered in Zooprise Party by Rebekha Delgado.

Mori the okapi is celebrating a birthday, but no one seems to care--not even his nozy neighbor, Lito the gerenuk. What do Lito and Elvis the king vulture know that Mori doesn't?

This is a wonderful book that will be enjoyed by young people (ages 3 - 8) in many parts of the world. Told in English and Spanish, your child will learn about friendship and a variety of interesting animals. The author's love and knowledge of animals is obvious throughout the book as she assigns human traits to these zoo creatures whom your children will love and adore.

Illustrator Joy Delgado did an excellent job of bringing these characters to life. Her attention to detail and the fun and lighthearted appearance of Mori and friends will be a big hit with young readers. And through most of the pages there is a wild rabbit hopping around. Though not mentioned in the book, I wondered if he/she has a story of his/her own to tell.

The text is large and clear so that children who are reading on their own will have no problem understanding the words. My girls (ages 7 and 5) picked up on the fact that each main character has his own colored text in the story, so that the words "Mori" and "okapi" always appear in purple, "Lito" and "gerenuk" in green, and "Elvis" and "king vulture" in red. This allowed them to relate which animal went with which name easily.



Also available is the Zooprise Party Activity Book, filled with crossword puzzles, color by number pages, search-a-words, and connect the dots, and mazes. There are also coloring pages that ask questions about the book and the back page has bookmarks for your child to cut out and share with friends.



There is also a Teacher's Guide that will help educators introduce children in Grades K - 3 to a variety of topics that coincide with the book. From Language Arts to Math and Science, this guide will provide educators with many ideas to help children learn about themselves, others, and animals.

You'll find more activities, crafts, recipes, and animal facts at http://www.laughing-zebra-children-books.com/index.html

Zooprise Party by Rebekha Delgado is a book that should be on every young reader's bookshelf, though I doubt it will stay there long because they'll be too busy reading it.


Title: Zooprise Party
Author: Rebekha Delgado
Publisher: Laughing Zebra - Books for Children
ISBN: 978-0-9755454-1-6
U.S. Price: $11.95

Title: Zooprise Party Activity Book
ISBN: 978-0-9755454-2-3
U.S. Price: $4.95

Title: Zooprise Party Teacher's Guide
ISBN: 978-0-9755454-3-0
U.S. Price: $8.95