Zoo train by Sally Sutton

Ill. by Darron Parton. Walker Books, 2015. ISBN 9781922179876
(Age: 3-6) Recommended. Zoos. Animals. Trains. A wintry day at the zoo and everyone's rugged up with hats, coats and scarves, ready to board the zoo train. The picnic bag is filled with juice, popcorn and cake ready for a stop by the lake. Off they go with a repetitious refrain, chugga chugga choo choo in the open carriages of the train. First stop and everyone watches as the zoo-keepers take a wheelbarrow filled with mucky straw from the monkeys' cage. Oh no, the cage has been left unlocked. As the little red engine takes the carriages through the zoo,the visitors see the tiger and lion dozing on their platforms while the giraffe pokes his head out from his tall home.
When the rhyme and refrain are read aloud, the audience will soon join in with the train noises. A keen observer will also notice the monkey antics. Food and clothing start to go missing and on reaching the lake stop, the young boy shouts:
'Where has all my lunch gone?
Where's my lovely juice?
There's no hat or scarf here!
Yikes! My pants are loose!'
A fun zoo adventure for preschoolers and kindergarten children.
Rhyllis Bignell