Home > Categories > Books > Kids - Junior > Zanzibar review
An uplifting, warmhearted early chapter book about a crow, who proves you can move mountains (or even dromedaries) and perform truly heroic deeds if you believe in yourself Zanzibar cooks a fine mushroom omelette,and he is a crow who wears his feathers well. At least he thought so, until a spectacled lizard knocks at his door, wanting to write an article about a remarkable person. Is Zanzibar remarkable? The lizard seems to doubt it. Zanzibar thinks: To be remarkable, I must achieve something incredible, an extraordinary feat. So he decides that's what he'll do. His feat will be an attempt to lift a dromedary.
Product reviews...
Zanzibar follows Crow, who after being told he hasn't done anything exceptional enough to end up in the newspaper, decides to go and see if he can lift a small, nice and slim, dromedary with just one wing. Now, none of the characters have any depth to them, we don't get any history of any of them and whilst we do get other characters, it is really all about Crow. Crow is a very two-dimensional character who didn't have me caring either way if he managed to achieve his goal or end up content, part of that may have just been lost in translation (this was originally published in French).
This will be an easy read for those who aren't fab readers yet but engaging enough that younger kids will be able to sit there and listen to it being read to them. Whilst I didn't love this book, I did laugh out loud at a couple of moments such as - "No," said the mailman, "I knocked just to tell you there's nothing for you today." and a couple of other small moments. I don't think this book is anything amazing and certainly not award winning story telling, but it was a nice little way to while away a few minutes (for me) and I'm sure there are plenty of children who will enjoy following Zanzibar as he attempts to do something extraordinary.
Random listing from 'Books'...
Meet four friendly forest animals in this adorable animal jigsaw book!
The simple two-piece puzzles with soft-to-touch fur are perfect for little hands.
All trademarks, images and copyrights on this site are owned by their respective companies.
KIWIreviews is an independent entity, part of the Knock Out News Group. This is a free public forum presenting user opinions on selected products, and as such the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinion of kiwireviews.nz and are protected under New Zealand law by the "Honest Opinion" clause of the Defamation Act of 1992. KIWIreviews accepts no liability for statements made on this site, on the premise that they have been submitted as the true and honest opinions of the individual posters. In most cases, prices and dates stated are approximate and should be considered as only guidelines.
"Why does your Obstetrician or Gynaecologist leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?"
unattributed