Zoe and Her Zebra (A Barefoot Board Book) [Board book]

Clare Beaton (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 2 and up | Series: A Barefoot Board Book

A is for Alice, but it is also for Alligator! Learn the alphabet with the help of twenty-six children and their very interesting animals. Each child is chased across the page by a different beast, but in the end it is Zoë and her Zebra who chase all of the others right off the page! This action-packed felt and bric-a-brac art book is guaranteed to make small children love learning their letters!

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

PreSchool-K-A visually tactile phantasmagoria. Rendered in "felt with braid, buttons, beads and assorted bric-a-brac," the illustrations beg to be touched. Each page features a letter of the alphabet written in upper and lowercase, with a child being pursued by an animal. Both of their names begin with that letter, e.g., "Ss is for Sita-but who is chasing her?" as a blue-and-green snake slithers behind her. The youngsters suggest a wide variety of ethnicities as do many of their names such as Farooq, Gopinder, Hamadi, Pedro, and Takeshi. Some preschoolers may be frightened by all this chasing and few are likely to know animals such as jackal, umbrella bird, or xoona moth. Nevertheless, most will enjoy the guessing and devour the visuals, and the key on the last three pages will clear up any confusion. This companion book to Beaton's One Moose, Twenty Mice (Barefoot, 1999) is an obvious choice for read-alouds and a fine addition that may even inspire youngsters to create their own felt art.
Jody McCoy, The Bush School, Seattle, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Beaton's ingenious felt creations transform the standard alphabet book format into an exotic blend of colors, creatures, and children's names. Every letter, shown in uppercase and lowercase, appears in a child's name and is also the beginning of the name of the creature chasing him or her: ``Cc is for Carlabut who is chasing her?'' A cat is shown, but left for children to name; the refrain is repeated for all 26 letters. Setting the volume apart, in addition to the boldly colored, multi-textured illustrations, is Beaton's selection of names and animals. Ben and Luke play alongside Farooq, Gopinder, Sita, and Takeshi; next to the usual cat and fox are a quail, a xoona moth, an umbrella bird, and others, all named in the back. The only discord comes in the facial expressions of the children, who are often glum, apprehensive, or dismayed. However, the combination of vivid hues, curious creatures, and repetitive text make for an exhilarating foray into the world of ABCs for preschoolers. (Picture book. 2-6) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Board book: 32 pages
• Publisher: Barefoot Books (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841483931
• ISBN-13: 978-1841483931
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #493,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, August 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Zoe and Her Zebra (A Barefoot Board Book) (Board book)

Without question, Clare Beaton's appliqué illustrations are gorgeous, and it's great that the text emphasizes diversity, but stick to her other books, like _How Big Is a Pig?_ or _One Moose, Twenty Mice,_ which are excellent and in the same visual style as _Zoe and Her Zebra._ This book is likely to frighten younger kids, with its depictions of frightened- and unhappy-looking children being chased by snarling animals.

I don't understand what Beaton and Barefoot Books were thinking with this book; what exactly is the point of using scary pictures to introduce the alphabet?? No doubt some people will point to Grimm's fairy tales and the like, to demonstrate that fear has a place in children's literature (which is absolutely true, it does have its place), but it's a poor rationale in this instance. First of all, most of the Grimm's fairy tales aren't intended for as young an audience as this book, and secondly, the Grimm's tales are *stories,* with plots and morals and some context for the scary parts, whereas this book has none of those things. The element of fear here is gratuitous; the author could just as easily have used non-threatening language and images without changing the substance of this book.

The fabulous illustrations are the only real redeeming factor with this book, and that bumps it up from a 1 star rating to a 3 star rating, in my opinion, but overall I would not recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty and Scary and Uncommon, December 1, 2008

By 

V. H Lok "Average Person" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zoe and Her Zebra (A Barefoot Board Book) (Board book)

Like others have said, the pictures are very beautiful BUT scary. Animals are chasing unhappy kids who apparently were happily playing moments before, but drop their toys and run in terror from the animals.

My other complaint is the choice of animals. Seriously there is an "Umbrella Bird" and a "Xoona Moth". What? Xoona moth?! OK, it's hard to come up with an animal that starts with X, but come on, go with X-ray fish. At least X-ray is a word they might know!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More felt fun, May 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Zoe and Her Zebra (Barefoot Beginner) (Hardcover)

If you haven't seen Clare Beaton's illustrations yet, you are missing out on a real treat. Beaton's illustrations are unique. She uses felt, buttons, beads and bric-a-brac, creating truly colorful and eye-catching pictures that toddlers will enjoy.

Each letter of the alphabet has its own page, for the most part with an animal "chasing" a child, ranging from "Carla" being chased by a cat to "Wendy" being chased by a wolf. The wolf looks rather ferocious so I imagine some children might find a few of the illustrations frightening. (Then again Grimm's very grim fairy tales have been told to children for centuries...)

To be truthful, the title of the book is what first caught my eye--my daughters name is Zoe... Because there are probably other people out there who would like to find a book with their child's name in it, here is the list of names used: Alice, Ben, Carla, Dylan, Erin, Farooq, Gopinder, Hamadi, India, Jacob, Kylie, Luke, Martha, Naiser, Olga, Pedro, Queenie, Reuben, Sita, Takeshi, Ursula, Victor, Wendy, Xavier, Yoko, and Zoe. As you can see from the list, the book is somewhat multi-cultural, an added bonus.