Baby Bear Goes to the Zoo (Baby Bear Books)

Baby Bear is a lovely, lively story for the very young. It is filled with bright, happy pictures that often escape a little from their borders, and the story is fun and repetitive. If children fall in love with Baby Bear, there's a whole series of books about his adventures.This book won the Crichton Award for new Australian illustrators in 2000.

My daughter is 18 months and loves this book. She loves animals and the pictures are colorful and simple enough for her. It flows quickly to keep her attention at this age. When she starts to read it will be a perfect starter book. Broekstra's other book, "Baby Bear Goes to the Beach" is also very good.

This book is wonderfully illustrated. The images leap off the page to delight readers young and old. My daughter has memorized Baby Bear's journey through the zoo where he visits zebras, monkeys, and an elephant or two. While looking at the animals, a beautiful butterfly distracts the young bear and he runs after it only to find that he has run too far and can't find his mother. He runs to the calls of "Baby Bear, Baby Bear" each time he hears it only to discover that there are a lot of other baby bears in the world. He finally hears his own mother calling and his journey ends with a hug. The way it should be.