ZACH AT THE ZOO. Munsil, Janet. Illustrated by Lesley Fairfield. Toronto, Annick Press. c1986. unpaged, paper. ISBN 0-920303-62-5 (cloth) $12.95, 0-920303-63-3 (paper) $4.95. CIP Pre-School-Grade 2 Reviewed by André Gagnon Volume 15 Number 2 1987 March After a promising debut with her first book, Dinner at Auntie Rose's,* Janet Munsil tells a nonsense story that falls flat and fails to grab the reader. Although the story has a most engaging beginning, which will intrigue children, Munsil soon after loses sight of her story and takes the reader through a series of incidents that are confusing and difficult to follow. Munsil relies too much on one-line jokes and, in trying to offer official situations, digresses from the story line. The policeman taped to the movie theatre and then lo the grocery store becomes an annoying situation that adds very little to the story. The author seems more concerned with these funny anecdotes than with the story itself. Lesley Fairfield has made the best of this slim story. Her illustrations are lively and hilarious. The penguin standing behind Zack on Albert Avenue and the one in the phone booth are priceless. Children will have more fun looking at the background activities than listening to the story itself, fairfield has added small details that children will delight in finding. When reading the story, storytellers might miss one line on page 13, which, for no particular reason, has been printed on the right corner of the illustration. It is doubtful that children will want to follow Zach in his search for his father lost at the zoo. André Gagnon, Regina P.L., Regina, Sask. *Reviewed vol. XII/4 July 1984 p.168.