Customer Reviews

Zoom City

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was given to us as part of a basket of books for my newborn son, who was an avid story-listener from two months on, and it was his favorite for well over a year. My daughter, who just turned one, is far less interested in books in general, but her face lights up with delight when we bring out Zoom City. The bright graphics and sound effects engage even the youngest babies. My husband and I can recite it by heart, which comes in handy since both kids like to hear the words even when the book's not around. I always include a copy of Zoom City with every "new baby" gift I send. I can't say enough about this book.

This book is my sons favorite book and has been for almost a year now. When he was 9 months old he enjoyed the pictures mostly; very bright, bold and expressive collages. Next, around 1 year, he started enjoying the expressive words ("be bop, kazoom"). At 19 months he has a couple favorite pages, the ones with action (crashing cars). This book has something for a wide range of young children to enjoy. Even more amazing, the adults haven't tired of it either! It is an easy book to read with a lot of different sounds and expressions. I highly recommend Zoom City.

Wow - this book was SUCH a hit with my son. Before we found this at a local bookstore, my son would actually get mad when I tried to get him to sit and listen to a story. He even took books out of my hand and flung them across the room. One day, I was DETERMINED to find a book that would be a hit. When I read this one, I knew I had found a hit: all the sound-effects, stop signs (he loved those) and the CRASH! (yes, I saw that the crash was given as a reason to dislike this book, but my then-1-year-old found it great fun to smack the book on the page with the crash, eagerly anticipating it each time). Thacher Hurd was my hero, as my son soon came to love all books, and due to our hours spent enjoying books, is quite advanced in his language arts skills now that he's in school. Thanks, Mr. Hurd, for a book that so appeals to little boys. :)

Zoom City is the most worn board book in my house - the wonderful artwork and "sounds" throughout it provide constant entertainment for babies and toddlers. This is one worth buying and keeping. I got this book as a gift for my first child when he was 6 months old - and he's 3 and still enjoys it.

Noises and vivid colors make this book a delight for my sixteen-month-old. She's been reading it since she was one year old and still loves it. In particular, she loves anticipating the noises and imitating them. She probably likes the pictures, because she looks at them all the way and points things out. I won't read her a book that does not hold my interest too, and this one has enough to make the experience enjoyable even for the umpteenth time through it (parents, you know what I'm talking about!).

I will start with my complaint, since no other reviewer has mentioned a complaint: the crashing. There is a scene where the cars are going too fast and they crash and the tow truck comes to take the car to the repair shop. Until this point my 1 year-old toddler knew nothing about crashes. Immediately he began crashing his toy cars, planes, boats, trains, into each other and furniture, etc. destroying things and scratching furniture and walls in the process. (He never did crashes before and he seems to think crashes are fun and harmless.) This book basically caused us a big discipline problem! The book portrays crashes as nothing bad--and I had to try to explain that real car crashes are not fun, they are dangerous and sometimes people get hurt, etc. Other than the crash issue, I enjoy this board book. The scenes are bright, the text very sing-songy, and it is a quick read that is requested to be repeated many times. My son especially loves the repair shop which has several kinds of tools, and I am to name each one over and over. I don't think that crashing belongs in a book for one year-olds, which is the age the publisher indicates is appropriate for this book. Publishers take note: we need more books with "tools" as the main theme!

Addendum: We've been reading this book for 5 years now and both of my sons love it. I have learned once they learn of crashing toys they never stop; I've seen it in boys other than my own as well and their start on crashing was not due to reading this book, it came from just playing with toys. My kids also love to talk about the tools in the book; it is hard to find books for toddlers with tools in them.

My kids like the cadence of the text and they memorize it. As my firstborn got older and changed developmentally, he came to see that car crashes are not a good or happy thing. A good way to teach this is to point out accidents we pass while driving on the road or to point out smashed cars we pass in at auto repair shops. Also when we hear an ambulance I wonder aloud if someone was hurt in a car crash and that I hope they are alright and not too hurt.

Update 12/2008: Amazon won't let me edit the star rating. I tried to change it to 5 stars to reflect my changed opinion.

This was my youngest brother's favorite book when he was an infant and toddler 10+ years ago, and I was very pleased that it was still available when I started looking for baby gifts for myself and my friends. This story always kept his attention (unlike most books), and it is less painful for the reader than many alternatives! The short phrases and bright pictures make each page easy to read, and provide many interesting opportunities to discuss the content. Some people are concerned that the crashing scene is inappropriate for kids, but it gave us many opportunities to talk about safe driving while on the road. This was the first book that he learned to "read," because he had it memorized long before he recognized the words on the page.

My son adores this book! He particularly enjoys all the interesting sounds and images. If your child is in a car phase, this is the best book for him/her

This book is Great! My 18 month old son loves it. When we first read it together during the holiday, he had me read it to him 5 times! Even now, everytime we read this book, we read it at least 2-3 times in a row if not more. I read all the reviews before purchasing this book and there is mention of a person whose son learned to crash things together from this book and that it is undesirable behavior. My comment on this is: 1) kids are going to be kids, and, 2)I really think your child's reaction to this book will be entirely dependant on their personality and character. My son is a cancer and he loves cars. My son is sensitive to the crash scene when it comes up (from the cars going too fast), he is almost upset, but when he sees the tow trucks (he loves trucks), he is happy again, and on the next page when he sees the mechanic fixing the cars with tools he loves it. Everytime this page comes up, he says, "Tool! Tool!" (of course we introduced him to tools before this book and he loves those as well). So you see, it really is all in the child's experience and personality. I think only one bad review out several (11 now I think it is) is not bad. This book was definately worth the try for us!

When my daughter was 18 months old, she could recite this book. When her little brother was 2, he could recite this book. If either one is concerned about the speed with which either parent is negotiating a curve,we hear "Watch out! Too fast! CRASH! Disaster!" It's a real favorite at our house, even at 5 and close to 3, and we haven't had a problem with the crash issue. (When I read it, I add editorial comments, like "OH NO!" that might have helped)