Sloth at the Zoom

by Becker, Orbie (Illustrator)

Overview

One day, a sloth accidentally gets delivered to the Zoom! She was supposed to be dropped off at the Zzzzzoo, a much more laid-back, slow-paced place. She had been looking forward to long, languorous naps while the sun gently warmed her belly. But at the Zoom, the zebras gallop so fast they leave their stripes in puddles. The monkeys climb so fast they forget to stop at the treetops. And the parrots fly so fast their tails draw rainbows across the sky.



When the sloth tries to make friends, nobody has any time—until the sloth meets a creature who’s a little more her speed, and everyone stops to notice. This is a surprising, delightful, and funny picture book about slowing down to enjoy the little things and making time for what matters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771472494
Publisher:	Owlkids Books
Publication date:	08/15/2018
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	631,547
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

HELAINE BECKER is an award-winning writer of books for children. She has written over 80 books, including Worms for Breakfast and the best-selling picture book A Porcupine in a Pine Tree Helaine lives in Toronto, Ontario, where she tends to move either way too fast (cheetah!) or not at all (sloth).

ORBIE is a children’s book illustrator, graphic novel creator, and illustrator for newspapers, posters, and marketing materials who lives Cap d'Espoir, Quebec. She is known for her art surrounding themes of birth and motherhood. Sloth at the Zoom will be Orbie’s first English language picture book.

Editorial Reviews

Ms. Becker's rich language and storytelling makes this an excellent choice for a shared read.

Sal's Fiction Addiction

"This sweet short story would make a terrific read-aloud in an early years’ classroom or library. "

Canadian Review of Materials

A gentle cautionary tale about pausing to “smell the flowers” for small humans, big humans, and animals. Recommended.

Resource Links

2018-06-11
A quintessentially laid-back sloth is mistakenly delivered to the Zoom instead of her expected destination, the Zzzzzoo. It was a wrong turn (as the endpapers show). At the Zoom, "The monkeys climbed so fast they forgot to stop at the treetops. / And the parrots flew so fast their tails drew rainbows across the sky." Over an appropriately attenuated period of weeks, the sloth tries to befriend a cheetah, those monkeys, and a zeal of zebras—but all rush off with only the briefest of exchanges. Just as the sloth resigns herself to loneliness—"No one here has any time"—she meets a snail. Evidencing their perfectly matched modi vivendi, it takes four funny panels for the sloth to mosey down to the snail's philodendron—the same amount of time for the snail to travel the length of a leaf. "And as the setting sun adorned the sky," they share a snack and a cool drink. Predictably, their contentment attracts the attention of the other animals, who "[slow] down… / …just long enough, that is, to become fast friends." Perfectly pitched for preschoolers who are just beginning to understand jokes, Becker's turns of phrase are well-cadenced for read-alouds. Notably, the sloth never loses her cool over the other animals' ways. Orbie's appealing illustrations evoke those of Bill Peet.A gentle lesson that positive alternatives to hurtling mindlessly through life do exist—even at the Zoom. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews

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