Maestro Stu Saves the Zoo

Gr 1–2—An unsuccessful attempt to blend an unoriginal boy-saves-zoo story with idioms. Young Stu has always loved the zoo, particularly the animal noises he hears from his family's nearby apartment. But the zoo is under threat from Mr. Cooper, who plans to build a mall in its place. Lion calls all of the panicking animals to a brainstorming meeting, which seems more like an excuse to use half a dozen idioms. Stu surprises the animals with a solution, causing the ape to gratuitously say, "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle." The sounds Stu enjoys, which his mother calls "a symphony," are the key to saving the animals. The next morning, as Stu conducts, the animals attract attention and applause with their musical performance and save their home from Mr. Cooper, who becomes their new pooper-scooper. While idioms can be entertaining in moderation, they become almost painful when they are forced into a story. Even Bowers's rich and colorful illustrations, which depict mildly anthropomorphized animals, aren't enough to make up for the didactic text. The heavy use of clichéd phrases would make this a challenging story for a child to read, even with the list of idioms and their meanings to refer to in the back of the book. The clunky text also keeps it from being a good read-aloud. For a silly and more kid-friendly introduction to idioms, try Tedd Arnold's Even More Parts (Dial, 2004).—Marian McLeod, Darien Library, CT