If I Ran the Zoo
May 25, 2010
- ISBN13: 9780394800813
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Illus. in color. “Young Gerald McGrew thinks of all sorts of unusual animals he’d have in a zoo. Dr. Seuss at his best.”–Horn Book. Amazon.com Review
“It’s a pretty good zoo,” said young Gerald McGrew, “and the fellow who runs it seems proud of it, too.” But if Gerald ran the zoo, the New Zoo, McGrew Zoo, he’d see to making a change or two: “So I’d open each cage. I’d unlock every pen, let the animals go, and start over again.” And that’s just what Gerald imagines, as he travels the world in this playfully illustrated Dr. Seuss classic (first published back in 1950), collecting all sorts of beasts “that you don’t see every day.” From the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant to the blistering sands of the Desert of Zind, Gerald hunts down every animal imaginable (“I’ll catch ‘em in countries no one can spell, like the country of Motta-fa-Potta-fa-Pell”). Whether it’s a scraggle-foot Mulligatawny or a wild-haired Iota (from “the far western part of south-east North Dakota”), Gerald amazes the world with his new and improved zoo: “This Zoo Keeper, New Keeper’s simply astounding! He travels so far that you think he would drop! When do you suppose this young fellow will stop?”
But Gerald’s weird and wonderful globe-trotting safari doesn’t end a moment too soon: “young McGrew’s made his mark. He’s built a zoo better than Noah’s whole Ark!” Some of the text and illustrations–imaginative as they are–are obviously dated, such as the following passage: “I’ll hunt in the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant/ With helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant,/ And capture a fine fluffy bird called the Bustard/ Who only eats custard with sauce made of mustard.” And your children may be the first to recognize that attitudes have changed since the xenophobic ’50s. But that doesn’t mean this tale need be discarded; instead, it should be discussed. Ironically, Seuss was trying here–in his wild, explosive, and sometimes careless manner–to celebrate the joys of unconventionality and the bliss of liberation! (Ages 4 to 
Review Summary: In these days when we realize that wild animals are almost always better off in natural surroundings than in the zoo, this book chooses a questionable place for exercising creativity. The story also builds around the notion of employing lots people who live in the locales where rare animals occur to do much of the heavy lifting. That attitude also seems out of whack with a world in which we honor differences and seek people out on a common basis. Some will also wonder about the wisdom of having the youngster in the story simply let all of the zoo animals go. If you decide to introduce this story to your children, you will probably want to explain a few things to go along with the verse that Dr. Seuss wrote 50 years ago. Otherwise, you can safely avoid this book and go on to one of Dr. Seuss’s many fine books that encourage creativity . . . without any mixed messages.
Review: In visiting the zoo, young Gerald McGrew expresses reservations about having an ordinary zoo. “I’d make a few changes.” “I want something new!” “Let the animals go, and start over again.” The illustration shows the cages being opened up with lions and tigers wandering off down the zoo paths . . . and not being returned to any appropriate place for them to live. Why is that a good example for children? Beats me!
The bulk of the story involves young Gerald telling the zookeeper what he’d do instead, while Gerald imagines himself as the zookeeper. The bulk of the story involves concocting exotic animals from far-off lands and unusual ways to capture them. One of the things I liked about the story is that many of these animals are connected a little to real places or animals. That makes the process of creating them more obvious to a child. For example, the first exotic animal is a lion with at least ten legs, five on each side.
The animals gradually veer away from the standard animals. Next, there’s a “new sort-of-a-hen who roosts in another hen’s topknot” and so forth so they are all stacked up on top of one another. Following that is an elephant-cat.
At that point, the flights of fancy move further afield. He goes on a hunt for a “What-do-you-know” past the North Pole. In typical Dr Seuss fashion, the names are formed to help make the rhymes work better. You get flustards and bustards. Flustards also eat mustard with a sauce made of custard. In similar fashion, lunks come in a bucket from Nantucket.
For those who watch closely, you’ll be amused to see that there’s a “Nerd” collected and illustrated here.
One of my favorite hunts is the one for a Natch, in which it is necessary to cook a special meal to lure him from his high cave.
By the time Gerald’s done he concludes, “It’s the gol-darndst zoo on the face of the earth!” The zoo’s collection success he sees as a reflection of his own magnificence.
The illustrations are the book’s strength, because the drawings are usually much funnier than the rhymes. the illustrations are done in red, yellow, and blue to highlight the weirdness of the exotic animals. The verse and illustrations complement one another well.
After you finish this story, think about how you could write new rhymes to make it a five-star book. With a little editing here and there, and an occasional added rhyme, you’ll soon have a five-star collaboration with Dr. Seuss that you can proudly read to your child. Think of that!
Focus creativity where it will expand the heart as well as the mind!
Rating: 3 / 5
This book is very good with the exception of one thing. The book has at least one euphemism with God’s name. I try to teach my children not to use God’s name in vain, even when done euphemistically. Abstain from the appearance of evil. I generally admire Seuss books greatly but was a bit disappointed in this.
Rating: 3 / 5
I bought this to give to my niece for Christmas but it contains several highly racist bits as the boy travels to different countries to collect animals for his zoo. He goes to Asia where he meets “helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant” (accompanied by WWII propoganda-style caricatures of Asians). When he goes to Africa the animal he captures is held aloft by two tribal Africans illustrated in the typical minstrel show/early 20th century racist exaggerated style. And he goes to Russia to collect a bird “whose headski is redski and belly is blueski.”
Yes, the book was originally printed in 1950 and maybe it was a less enlightened time and my niece is going to encounter society’s racial stereotypes soon enough. But I’m not going to be the one to introduce them to her.
Rating: 1 / 5
This was a library book we brought home, and we did read through it twice. But it just wasn’t our favorite. For one thing, I had to keep substituting “Amazing” for “Gol-darnedest” in the text — the text’s exclamations of wonder were … a little too close to blasphemy for this Mommy.
Also, it ran a little long.
But it is fun to read it out loud, and the faster the better!
Rating: 3 / 5
Let me first say that my daughter and I LOVE Dr. Seuss books. I cannot even tell you how many times I have read “If I Ran the Circus,” “The Sneetches,” the Horton books, plus MANY others. I can even read them with my eyes closed because I know them all so well.
I have to say that I found myself very disappointed with this book. It was partly the storyline (capturing and hunting down the animals), but it is mostly the pictures. I am not someone who is easily offended at all, but the pictures in the book of Asians and Africans were so stereotypically horrible. I realize this was written in a different time, but I just don’t feel it is truly appropriate to the children of today. When we finished the book, my daughter even said, “Mommy, I didn’t really like that book.” I guess that was that.
Rating: 1 / 5
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