Ziggy and the Moonlight Show

Ziggy the striking zebra is in awe of the forest's spectacular Moonlight Show and looks forward to its arrival on a Saturday every week. This particular Saturday, Ziggy discovers a bird who had lost her chick and kindly offers to help find her. This seek and find story follows Ziggy and the bird in a race against time, encountering different animals as they try to find the lost chick. Ziggy is sure he's spotted the lost chick 'by the water's edge', and 'hiding in the long grass', but all is not as it seems and we are reminded that Zebras are not the only striped animals in the wild. This picture book is a great treat for little minds. The shadowy pictures are bold and simple yet effective. Children will enjoy the repetitive pattern of the striped print throughout. The double page spread of the Spectacular Finale was an exciting surprise and really unexpected. Children love books where you have to turn the page around to get an even better view. Although there were little hints dotted throughout the book (unbeknown until the end), you really are bubbling with excitement and eager to find out what this long-awaited Moonlight Show is all about. The text changes in size for emphasis and includes an enjoyable amount of onomatopoeia for the children to join in with. It is a good book to use when teaching children about animals in science. The children could produce fact files on some of these more unknown animals or maybe research other stripy animals of their own. It would also be nice to see children exploring the artistic style of Kristyna Litten with the rose tinted pictures, focused on lots of shading and shadows and overlapped with a bold black and white image. Picture book / Ages 3+ / Reviewed by Nikki Stiles, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 3+