Customer Reviews

A Room with a Zoo

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A couple months ago a child walked into a library where I was the children's librarian. Softly she asked if we had anything else by the author of "A Room With a Zoo". My library is notorious for getting new books in late, but in this particular case I had seen the title already in a bookstore. I showed her Jules Feiffer's other books, like "The Man In the Ceiling" and "A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears". She looked them over vaguely but they were obviously not what she wanted. What she wanted was another book exactly like, "A Room With a Zoo" and I (not having read it) was hard put to find her something similar. Time has passed, I have read the book, and I STILL cannot for the life of me figure out what I should have told her. Feiffer has deftly tapped into a single child's love for the animals she keeps in such a one-of-a-kind way that animal loving kids out there are sure to find a kindred spirit in the character of Julie. Using everything from slapstick to sweet moments to the reality that comes with owning a variety of different animals, Feiffer is always real, always interesting, and never dull.

Based on Jules Feiffer's real family and real family members (though to what extent I am not certain) the book is told through the eyes of nine-year-old Julie Feiffer. Julie wants one thing in the entire world. A Chihuahua. A cute little doggie that she would tend to and take care of. Her parents insist that she is too young for such a responsibility. So instead she gets a cat named Timmy. But Timmy isn't a sweet cat, he's a frightened one and to make up for him they buy her a hamster named Hammy. Problem is, Hammy tortures Timmy with his edibleness. So to distract Timmy from Hammy they get an Oscar fish named (oh so appropriately) Oscar. That's all well and good until it becomes clear that Oscar likes to eat the other fish purchased with the sole purpose of keeping him company. So she gets a turtle for comfort. Then Julie wants to bring home the class rabbit, she gets a new kitten who is as friendly as Timmy is distant, and all this reaches a screeching climax when fish, hamster, and cats combine to bring the story to a slam bang finish.

I'm intrigued by the reviewer of this book who responded with horror to the fact that Julie makes poor judgments with her animals. They seem to be under the impression that the protagonist in a children's story should always do the right thing and never make mistakes. Julie is nine and some of her addle-headed theories result with a sticky end, but this isn't one of those books where the kid makes a mistake and gets away with it. Each time Julie does something stupid she (and the animals) pay for it. And, by paying for it, learns. To the animals' detriment, of course, but in this story only two critters get eaten and nobody (aside from the eaten) dies. There's a strong sense of reality to this tale, leading me to believe that much of this story must've actually happened to Feiffer & Co. When one of Julie's goldfish is eaten by the Oscar, Feiffer's accompanying illustration of Julie screaming is dead on. I well remember the horror of waking up in the morning, walking over to the fishtank, and seeing half a skeleton of a fish floating at the top of the bowl. "A Room With a Zoo" is hardly so graphic, but it acknowledges right from the get-go that pet ownership is not for the weak. The individual personalities of the pets ring true each and every time. Plus I think that no children's book describes quite so well the agony some adults feel when their backs go out.

There are wonderful little touches spotted throughout the text that make for a great read. When Julie discovers the Oscar fish her parents have bought for her the fish is describes as follows: "His eyes were black like a gangster's, and on top of his eyes there was a bright red line the color of his speckles. `He reminds me of Tony Soprano,' my father said, so he called my fish Tony". The book isn't afraid to do a little shout out once in a while as well. Though it's never mentioned by name, proud parent Jules mentions his daughter Kate Feiffer's new picture book, "Double Pink" at great length. I was amused that he would be so gutsy as to unrepentantly draw attention to his daughter's work in this fashion. Not every daddy would do so much.

It's the truth in this tale that is its strength and its weakness. Some parents will bemoan the fact that Julie is a real little girl and not a perfect-pet-takin'-care-of-machine. She does pretty darn well, all things considered, and some elements of this tale are so real (such as a classmate's family trying to drop a sick rabbit off onto Julie's family) that they could only have been inspired by true life situations. Most importantly, kids really identify with Julie. She's one of them. They understand what she's going through, even when they don't agree with her decisions at all times. It makes for a great story, an amusing tale, and an altogether hepped-up storyline. Bound be beloved for quite some time.

Julie is an animal lover who has always wanted a dog. She asks for a dog when she sees one on the street, and then again when she sees one on television. "Not until you're old enough to walk it yourself," her parents tell her. Then one day Julie has a new idea. "You don't have to walk a cat, do you?" she asks. Her parents let her have Timmy, the first animal for the zoo in her bedroom.

A ROOM WITH A ZOO is about Julie's adventures with animals. One animal at a time, her room fills with pets. Her parents get her Hammy, a hamster, when Timmy isn't as cuddly as she imagined. Next they get Oscar, a mean, ugly fish, to take Timmy's mind off of eating Hammy. Then there's a turtle, and a visit from the classroom rabbit.

Each pet creates some new adventure, or disaster. The book culminates with a trip to a relative's farm. Julie sees all kinds of other animals she would like to have, including goats and a newborn kitten. But each time she asks for a new pet, she worries she's using up her chances to get what she really wants...a dog.

Children will identify with Julie's passions and anxieties about her animals. Adults will relate to what Julie's parents experience each time a new pet is added to her zoo. Illustrated liberally by the author's hilarious and emotive drawings, the story of the Feiffer family could be the account of any family who has ever tried to find the right pet to love.

--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood

My school-aged daughters and I read this based on Amazon reviews and we all loved it. It tells a story of a young African-American girl in a slightly unconventional family (adopted, half-sisters, etc.) living in the city. It is written in her voice, and you really feel like you are her. We've recommended it to friends, and any who like animals, have loved it. I was a bit troubled that the mom was a smoker, but hey, it happens. I about cried at the end. It is just so sweet. I wish he'd write another!

Courtney Roberts 3/28/07
Writing Book Review A Room with a Zoo


There is this loving family they had a daughter named Halley and she wanted a pet and she wanted a pet now. She wanted her own pet to live in the house with her. She wanted a pet that could play ruff with her and she wanted her parents to get the pet for her. So the little girl's parents bought her a dog for the house. She also wanted a cat to join the small family. She even wanted a gerbil and a turtle but her parents only got her a dog even though they said that she can't have a pet until she is old enough to take care of it by herself she also wants a fish to take care of by herself so she can act more responsible. Halley wanted all different kinds of pets like for example a dog. But her parents wouldn't trust her with a pet in the house but her parents thought that she was old enough to take care of her own pet if they bought her one. So they both bought her one pet for now. And Halley's parents bought her all the pets that Halley asked for in the boob called a room with a zoo actually if you read it you should find it quit interesting because she wants a bunch of pets that she wanted to live in the human house with them but only if they bye a pet other wyes they won't have any pets to play with on the weekends but Halley's parents actually did buy Halley a dog ,a cat, a fish ,a guinea pig for her pets. Halley is trying to get her parents to buy her all of those pets that she wants to have because she thanks that she is old enough to take care of her own pets that she wants because she finds them quit interesting interesting because I would want a lot of pets myself if I were Halley because she loves pets and I love pets because I have a grate Dane that is how I now that Halley loves pets as much as I do. Halley begged her parents for a pet and she got a pet from her parents but she only got a cat that was very sick and they thought that the cat was going to dye but the cat did not dye because they took very good care of the cat because they cared about the cat very much because it is their responsibility to take care of the cat people should care about their pets if they want a pet to take care of their pet. Because that is what owners do take care of their pets.

Sincerely,

Courtney Roberts

I'm a children's Librarian, and I can't wait to recommend this book to the kids. I'm sure they will love it as much as I did.

I loved this book. I am going to give it to my granddaughter who also has a room with a zoo. The most endearing part of the book was that it was written from a child's point of view, mistaken ideas included.Very charming!

This book starts out well, good idea. About half way through it becomes obvious the writer (cartoonist) has run out of ideas. Last half drags.

This book isn't cute at all - it's actually chilling if you like animals, understand that an animal isn't a toy, and realize that sometimes a kid isn't ready for a pet. This is clearly the case with Julie, the young "heroine" of this book. In her first misjudgement, she tries to introduce her hamster to her full grown cat, despite having been warned repeatedly that it would not work. The cat naturally tries to kill the hamster. Is this supposed to be cute? Funny? Whichever it is, or not, her parents respond to this display of bad judgement by buying her an oscar (a carnivorous fish). After a time, she decides the oscar is lonely & buys some goldfish, which she adds to the tank for the oscar to "make friends" with - again, despite a warning from a knowledgeable adult (in this case a pet shop owner, who proceeds to sells her the fish anyways in yet another display of the adult idiocy with which this book is rife - at least Julie has the excuse of being nine) that a hungry oscar will eat anything it wants to. She wakes up the next day to find that the oscar has indeed eaten one of the goldfish. Even after that, the menagerie continues to grow, with things spiralling further & further out of control as the work required to properly care for the animals far outstrips the young owner's ability to look after all of her charges. If anything, this book should be read as a cautionary tale about making sure that a child understands the responsibility that an owner has to care for an animal properly prior to indulging that child's request for even one pet, and as a warning of the fact that the parents need to be ready to step in & take over that responsibility, should the child not be ready.