Official Review: Alonzo: The Boy Who Lived in a Zoo

[Sangeetha+Narayan]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Alonzo: The Boy Who Lived in a Zoo" by Joe Munger.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Alonzo: The Boy Who Lived in a Zoo by Joe Munger is a pretty good children's book. The protagonist, Alonzo, has spent his entire childhood living in the zoo. The zoo was his home and the zookeepers, as well as the animals present, were his family members. He spent his day doing odd jobs such as feeding the animals, helping Ernest with his construction activities, helping Ms. Springfield at the entrance with selling tickets on busy days, and even helping the veterinarian with taking care of the sick animals. And whatever time was leftover from these chores, he spent on his school homework and projects.

However, his peaceful life at the zoo was about to get disrupted as news spread that his small community might be destroyed in the name of modern construction. Around the same time, his friendship with his school mate Myra becomes stronger as she joins him one evening after school and helps him with feeding the animals. Before they knew what hit them, Alonzo and Myra find themselves in danger, action, and a new entry in the zoo, a panda bear!

What I liked the most about the book was the diverse set of characters. On the one hand were simple and honest employees of the zoo, like Ernest and Ms. Springfield. Their lives seemed to revolve around the opening and closing of the zoo and taking care of the needs of animals residing in there. Alonzo was shown to have a very comfortable relationship with the animals. The readers get to see the atmosphere of the zoo through his eyes.

On the other end of the story was Myra, Alonzo's school mate, and probably the only friend at school who seemed comfortable socializing with him. We are also introduced to their teacher Mr. Watkins who seems to enjoy their friendship. The author attempts to connect these varied set of characters and put them together on a mission to save the zoo.

The descriptions of life in a zoo were pretty detailed and I enjoyed that aspect of the book. The author goes into great detail on the inner workings of a zoo. However, I also felt that for a children's book, the action started pretty late in the book. I believe that the descriptions were a bit too detailed and that a reluctant reader might lose interest and will find it hard to stick with the story.

I also felt that the connection between the grown-ups has not been shown clearly. We are told that Ernest, Ms.Springfield, Myra's mother, and Mr.Watkins all know each other from before. They know each other enough to get together with the children to save the zoo. And yet, we are not informed how they knew each other. No information is given about Alonzo's family and how he came to live all alone in an unlikely place like that. We also are not told why Myra feels a connection to the animals in the zoo. I felt that the author could have used some space to connect these loose ends.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. Once the action began in the story, I wanted to see how it ended. I also did not find too many grammatical or spelling errors in the book. And for that reason, I would be happy to give this book three out of four stars. This is a good book for children, especially for those voracious readers who enjoy details in a book. And even for those reluctant readers, this book promises a lot of action if they can work through the initial descriptions.

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Alonzo: The Boy Who Lived in a Zoo
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[Tablito]

Alonzo enjoys the serenity that comes with living in a zoo. The modern construction should not have been at the expense of the zoo.

[Buci]

I enjoyed the book especially where it talks about how much Alonzo enjoyed living on the zoo...And he sounds like a very good boy I just felt bad for him the the community was gonna be distroyed.