A Wild Day at the Zoo by Victor D. O. Santos – Book Review
A Wild Day at the Zoo by Victor D. O. Santos – Book Review
A Wild Day at the Zoo
Little Polyglot Adventures Book Two
Author – Victor D. O. Santos
Illustrator – Eszter Miklós
Publisher – Linguacious
Pages – 32
Released – 15th September 2020
ISBN-13 – 978-1649620446
Format – ebook, paperback, hardcover
Review by – Stacey
Rating – 4 Stars
I received a free copy of this book.
This post contains affiliate links.
The city zoo is holding a very special event. Today, guests can bring their own pets to the zoo! Of course, all city residents want to join in on the fun. Dylan and Isabella, the little polyglot siblings, see this as a great opportunity for Kiki, Dylan’s pet chicken, to meet her animal friends. However, things get a bit out of control when Kiki is left unattended. In this fun and colorful story, children will learn about the importance of thinking outside the box and using their imagination and creativity to solve difficult problems.
While reading this book, kids will learn six new words in different languages and feel like little polyglot themselves!
If you are looking for a children’s book that will help your child see the value in speaking other languages, in being multicultural, and that will hopefully get them excited about learning languages, this book is a great choice.
Dylan and his little sister Isabella were off to the zoo with their parents and Dylan’s pet chicken, as it was a special day at the zoo. It was the only day in the year that people could bring their pets in with them.
Along their journey, the children saw many different areas and animals including one over friendly giraffe who takes a liking to Dylan’s chicken.
A Wild Day at the Zoo is the second book in the Little Polyglot Adventures about a little girl who can speak three languages. I haven’t read the first book but from what I can tell they work as standalones.
The plot felt relaxing and captivating as the children visit the animals. It is full of diverse characters too. The full-page illustrations are wonderful to look at and I’m sure young children will enjoy spotting the animals on the pages.
As well as a lovely story there are also six words included that are not in English (written in a different colour) – these are in Portuguese, Ukrainian, Spanish, and Turkish. Whilst I think it is an excellent idea to include different languages within children’s books as they pick up things a lot easier when they are little, I’m not sure on having four different languages and I personally feel that sticking to two would have been better so not to confuse the reader.
The translation of the words was also written at the bottom of the page in small writing, so not easily noticeable. I expected to see it next to the word they were learning as they would have to move away from the section they are reading to learn the translation and then go back to where they left off. I do like that you can scan the QR code in the book to hear the words being said though.
Overall, any book that educates children in a fun manner is worth reading in my opinion.
Book Reviewer – Stacey
Purchase online from:
Amazon.co.uk – Amazon.com – Amazon.in – Blackwells
About the Author
A second language learning expert with vast experience in the field and a father to two amazingly funny trilingual children, Dr. Victor Santos founded Linguacious with the goal of helping other families and educators worldwide support the learning of other languages in children.
He is the author of the multi-award-winning series Little Polyglot Adventures and of many other books to help children learn different languages, developer of the award-winning Linguacious vocabulary flashcards in different languages, and is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA).
