The Opposite Zoo

by Il Sung Na

Overview

From the creator of A Book of Sleep and A Book of Babies comes a beautiful new book of animals—and opposites!
 
The sky is dark and the Opposite Zoo is CLOSED. But the monkey's cage is OPEN! Time to explore. . .
 
Follow the monkey as he visits all the animals in the zoo: fast and slow, big and small, noisy and quiet, soft and prickly! Filled with energetic illustrations, friendly animals, and a simple text, The Opposite Zoo is a fun and lively introduction to animals and opposites.

 
Praise for Il Sung Na:
 
“Il Sung Na’s illustrative art is so joyous, so jubilantly colorful, it feels celebratory and poetic even when the story is simple and spare.” —The Boston Globe (A Book of Babies)

“[A] grand read-aloud.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred (Welcome Home, Bear)
 
"It’s the rare picture book that, upon arrival, feels as though it has been around for years already; Na’s belongs to this group.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred (A Book of Sleep)

"Vibrant [and] whimsical.” —School Library Journal, Starred (Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399554124
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/07/2017
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 5.80(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

IL SUNG NA is the author-illustrator of many books for children, including A Book of Sleep; Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit; A Book of Babies; Welcome Home, Bear; andThe Opposite Zoo. Originally from South Korea, Il Sung studied illustration at Kingston University in London and currently lives in the New York City Area To learn more about his work, please visit IlSungNa.com or find him on Twitter at @ilsungna.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review
"Na brings fresh energy to the familiar. With a coloring style that feels as if someone took a firecracker to a box of crayons, Na makes turtle shells as dynamic as a peacock’s plumage."

Shelf Awareness
“A dazzling concept book for preschoolers. . . . Two monkey thumbs up.”
 
Mashable
“In his new book The Opposite Zoo, artist and children's book writer Il Sung Na delivers a beautiful lesson in contrast and contradictions.”
 
Kirkus Reviews
“A beautiful treatment of a familiar subject that repays close looking again and again.”
 
School Library Journal
“Na’s winsome illustrations make this title a delightful take on animal opposites.”
 
Booklist
“This picture book will be visually appealing to both adults and children, and it’s a welcome addition to a genre that, for many parents, can often be opposite of interesting.

From the Publisher

At first glance, The Opposite Zoo, by Il Sung Na, appears to occupy well-worn territory: the concept of opposites, and a zoo setting. But as in his previous picture books…Na brings fresh energy to the familiar. With a coloring style that feels as if someone took a firecracker to a box of crayons, Na makes turtle shells as dynamic as a peacock's plumage.

The New York Times Book Review - Minh C. Le

05/01/2016
PreS-Gr 1—When the Opposite Zoo closes for the night, a monkey escapes its enclosure to wander around and visit other animals, returning to its cage at sunrise before the zookeeper discovers its absence. To showcase the concept of opposites, each spread features two animals that contrast in some way, each labeled with a descriptive word—a tall giraffe and a short pig, a soft tiger and a prickly hedgehog, a slow sloth and a fast cheetah. Though the animals are not named, they are easily recognizable. Young readers will enjoy spotting the sneaky monkey on every page and following its nocturnal adventure, as well as seeing all of the zoo denizens on the last spread. VERDICT Na's winsome illustrations make this title a delightful take on animal opposites and a great addition to most collections.—Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

School Library Journal

2016-02-02
In exploring the concept of opposites at a zoo in nighttime, Na also explores a looser look than in many of his earlier books. "The sky is DARK, and the Opposite Zoo is CLOSED. But the monkey's door is OPEN! Time to explore…." And explore the monkey does, swinging past a wide-"AWAKE!" owl and a fast-"asleep" panda, checking in on a "Hairy" lion and a "Bald" hippo, offering an acacia twig to a "Tall" giraffe and calling to a "short," nursing peccary over three successive double-page spreads. While the opposites explored are not particularly revolutionary, Na's wry sense of humor is on display in nearly every spread, from the "shy" chameleon the monkey spots trying its best to blend into a rock, the "Soft" tiger about to learn why it's a bad idea to mess around with a "prickly" hedgehog, and the monkey sitting silently among a tribe of "NOISY" baboons, the adjective repeated in all-capital letters six times on the page above to emphasize the clamor. Readers accustomed to Na's baroque, layered patterns will be struck by the simplified, free style he adopts in this book for young learners. Broad strokes and energetic scribbles of color recall Brian Wildsmith, offering just enough detail to captivate without threatening to overwhelm the concepts illustrated. A beautiful treatment of a familiar subject that repays close looking again and again. (Picture book. 2-4)

Kirkus Reviews