19 August 2014 THE WAY TO THE ZOO by John Burningham, Candlewick Press, August 2014, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-7636-7317-8

My days of leading daily circle times have long since passed.  Nevertheless, my concept of a perfect circle time picture book for young children remains the same: It is a strikingly-illustrated book that, when read aloud, sparks both wonder and laughter.

THE WAY TO THE ZOO by John Burningham is exactly this sort of picture book.

One evening, while nodding off, Sylvie thinks she can see a previously unseen door in the wall of her bedroom.  The following night, she manages to locate and open the door.  She ventures through it and finds that it leads, via a staircase and passageway, to the zoo.

That first night:

“Sylvie asked a little bear to come back with her.  He did and slept in her bed.

“She made sure the bear was back in the zoo and the door in the wall was closed before she left for school.”

On subsequent evenings, Sylvie returns to the zoo and provides a succession of creatures the opportunity to spend the night sleeping over.  We delight in the chaotic antics of Sylvie and the wild animals in the house, and empathize with the poor baby elephant that is “too big for the passageway.”

Of course, something is eventually bound to go wrong with such a wonderful arrangement.

“One morning Sylvie woke up very late and had to rush to get ready for school.  When she came home later that day, she knew something was wrong.  There were noises coming from the living room.  She had forgotten to close the door in her bedroom wall.”

Right here, I can feel the excitement building in me as I imagine having a bunch of kids sitting around me as I turn the page and share the crazy scene that she finds in the living room...and then turn another page to share the illustration of Sylvie’s loud reaction. Now she must work to clean up the mess in time for her mother’s arrival home.

She ALMOST succeeds.

John Burningham has written and/or illustrated so many well-loved books over the past half-century.  The hilarity and sweetness of THE WAY TO THE ZOO, coupled with the not-to-be-missed expressions on the characters faces in this little-girl-and-her-animal-buddies tale makes this my new favorite of Mr. Burningham’s books.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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