"The sky is DARK, and the/ Opposite Zoo is CLOSED./ But the monkey's door is OPEN! Time to explore...." Chaos usually erupts when a monkey's cage is open at night, but all is quiet--except for the noisy baboons--in The Opposite Zoo, a dazzling concept book for preschoolers by Korean-born illustrator Il Sung Na (A Book of Sleep; Welcome Home, Bear; A Book of Babies).
The monkey seizes its chance to visit all the zoo animals, giving young readers the pleasure of locating the curious creature in each illustration. The owl--in jewel tones with rough, loopy crayon scribbles as feathers--is "AWAKE!" and the panda is "asleep," draped in a tree. The monkey checks them out, hanging by an arm from a nearby branch. The lion, whose mane is an explosive wreath of kinetic lines, is "Hairy," and the swimming blue hippo is "Bald." The monkey peeks at a temporarily rock-colored chameleon over the top of a boulder... and that's "shy." A peacock flashes its spectacular tail and is "BOLD." The monkey grabs on to a "Fast" cheetah's tail and the "S l o w" sloth has no hope of catching up.
By the time "BRIGHT" morning comes, the zookeeper closes the monkey's cage and, in the closing aerial zoo view, preschoolers will revel in having met each and every beast up close, whether noisy or quiet, fast or slow. The dreamily washed skies, playfully loose line work and unusually splendid colors alone will keep readers mesmerized, from that sublime peacock tail to the Chagall-like owl. Two monkey thumbs up. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness