The Great ZOO Hullabaloo
Written by: Mark Carthew
Illustrated by: Anil Tortop
Published by: New Frontier Publishing Pty ltd, Australia 2017
Ages: 3 – 6 years
Theme: animals, music, mystery
Opening Lines: When Jess and Jack opened the gates to the Zoo, it was strangely deserted. Nobody said BOO!
Synopsis: (From back of book) When Jess and Jack opened the gates to the Zoo, it was strangely quiet and deserted. Can Jess and jack discover the mystery of the missing animals?
Why I like this: This magical picture book by award-winning author Mark Carthew, brought to life by Anil Tortop’s illustrations, evokes the spirit of adventure in enchanting rhyme. It turns out the animals would rather play instruments and celebrate the birth of a new kangaroo than spend time in the zoo. The simplicity of the story in matter-of-fact, sing-song rhyme will certainly appeal to young children. While characters seem cartoonish the beautiful illustrations including a couple of birds-eye-views give readers eye appeal in rich colours. A must for both school and home it will open up discussions about animals and music.
Resources/Findings: Book trailer…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ5xXNMWUDY
Mark Carthew has a great website here dedicated to this book with some illustrations, Study Notes, Activities and more. … http://www.markcarthew.com.au/teachers/The_Great_Zoo_Hullabaloo_Teachers_Notes.pdf
Here is a Youtube piece from Anil Tortop…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsUidqVDaeE
A reading of the book by the author Mark is scheduled for July 6th at the Melbourne Zoo. See info here…. http://www.markcarthew.com.au/ and if you can’t go you can download a poster from this website.
I’m always pleased to be able to bring you some more special books that have come my way and be able to share them with you and join other great writers over at Susanna’s Blog, where there are literally hundreds of book reviews to view. So pop over and visit the lovely author, Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog and find the tab for Perfect Picture Books. Her blog is full of resources links and activities associated with books reviewed by many authors
Writer and Dreamer at work 
Anil was one of the very first illustrators I interviewed. Great to see her work highlighted here.
I concur!
Glad you like it Julie.
That’s so cool Joanna. She has such beautiful illustrations.
Great pick! This sounds like a nice book! 🙂
It is lovely. Such a cute story.
What a clever idea for a picture book. Kids will have a great time guessing. Beautiful illustrations!
Yep! Yes the illustrations are beautiful. Thanks Pat.
I am looking forward to reading this one. Thanks for featuring it.
Your very welcome Maria.
Yay! Another book that’s new-to-me to check out. This one sounds fun!
Yay, so glad you like it. It’s cute.
This looks like a lot of fun! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Diane. We sure had some fun making this one. Glad you like it!
Cheers, Mark Carthew
http://www.markcarthew.com.au