Use Your Imagination
Amadou's Zoo
Written & Illustrated by Rebecca Walsh
Age Level: 4-8 Years
Published September 8, 2020
It’s an out-of-body experience.
A trip to the zoo never fails to reawaken my childlike sense of wonder.
Amadou is going on a class trip to an old zoo in Paris. His teacher, Madame Minier, desires the children to behave in an orderly fashion, dutifully reading the plaques and taking in all the facts. But instead, Amadou immerses himself in his vivid ideas of what it’s like to be the animals. As he dances with the flamingoes, stalks with the lions, and swims with the hippos, he draws his classmates into his delightfully imagined, gorgeously illustrated world, and eventually wins over Madame Minier.
“Amadou loves to explore. Madame Minier loves that too. And today, Amadou has shown her that perhaps the best way to explore is through imagination.”
The illustrations in this book are gorgeous, and I particularly appreciate the intentional use of color, which represents Amadou and the students’ imaginations. The pages start out mostly black and white with only the avid daydreamer Amadou and his musings in color. Seeing how much added pleasure and enrichment Amadou’s imaginings bring to his experience of the zoo, his fellow students soon follow suit and let their minds run wild, causing them to come alive in color as well. It’s a beautiful visual that underscores the message that one’s imagination and ability to immerse oneself in an experience can be just as valuable a teaching tool as facts and figures.
10% of purchases through Bookshop.org go directly to local bookstores. Little Biblio earns an affiliate commission when you buy through links on our site.