This deliciously imaginative night time adventure is perfectly captured in the soft colours of Judith’s beautiful illustrations. What happens in the zoo after everyone has gone home is unexpected, unpredictable and delightful. And it is a useful introduction to counting, too.
Build your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right level
A wonderful rhyming book from Judith Kerr, the best-selling author of the Mog series and The Tiger Who Came to Tea
"One moonlit, magical night in the zoo An elephant jumped in the air and flew. But nobody knew."
It's only when all the visitors have gone home that the real fun starts in the Zoo! Enjoy counting the wide variety of animals in a fun and wonderfully imaginative way as you follow them through the night, and find out what mischief they get into.
A summary on pages 30 and 31, showing each animal in the book in number order, supports children in recapping what they have read.
Lime/Band 11 books have longer sentence structures and a greater use of literary language.
Ideas for reading at the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities
Praise for One Night in the Zoo: Lovely! uses soothing, pastel illustrations and exotic animals to make basic counting seem unintimidating. Daily Telegraph Praise for Twinkles, Arthur and Puss': 'A very engaging take on feline behaviour The Bookseller Praise for
'The Tiger Who Came To Tea': 'Near perfection of form is embellished by clear, expressive illustrations. The pace is exactly right, the resolution totally satisfying.' Dorothy Butler, Babies Need Books.
'A modern classic.' The Independent.
'This book has enduring charm and young children will delight in the preposterous notion of a tiger creating mayhem in the house.' Junior Magazine Lovely
! uses soothing, pastel illustrations and exotic animals to make basic counting seem unintimidating. Daily Telegraph An inspired counting book The Times Kerr
's soft illustrations provide plenty of details to spot, while the parade of animals teaches counting skills. Junior magazine Judith Kerr: If Carlsberg made grannies! Headline for feature in The Independent Praise for 'Mog the Forgetful Cat': 'Grandparents are likely to get as much fun out of seeing it again as the new generation of fans just learning to read!' Choice Magazine Praise for
'Goodbye Mog': 'Kerr's warmth, humour and honesty make this an engaging introduction to a difficult topic.' Financial Times
'Believable, amusing and moving.' Nursery World
'A supremely sensitive story.' The Times
Author
About Judith Kerr
Judith Kerr - 1923-2019
July 2016 Judith Kerr wins a Book Trust Lifetime Achievement Award. She received the award at London Zoo, at a ceremony hosted by former Children’s Laureate and BookTrust President, Michael Morpurgo. Judith Kerr said: "I am honoured and delighted that I have been chosen to receive the BookTrust’s Lifetime Achievement Award. I thank them very much, and as the presentation is to be at London Zoo, I’ll also be able to thank the tigers in the tiger enclosure who started it all."
Judith Kerr was born in Berlin in 1923 but escaped from Hitler’s Germany with her parents and brother in 1933 when she was nine years old. Her father was a drama critic and distinguished writer whose books were burned by the Nazis, because he dared to speak out against the regime. The day after the family left Berlin, the authorities came to arrest them, and throughout the war there was a price on her father’s head. Judith and her family passed through Switzerland and France before finally arriving in England in 1936. Judith wrote about her experiences in her classic autobiographical story, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.
Judith won a scholarship to the Central School of Arts in 1945, and since then has worked as an artist, television scriptwriter and, for the past thirty years, as an author and illustrator of children’s books. Judith was married to the scriptwriter Nigel Kneale, who died in 2006, most famous for the hit sciâ€fi series Quatermass. Her son is the writer Matthew Kneale who won the Whitbread Book Award for The English Passengers. Judith lives in south west London.
The Tiger Who Came to Tea was Judith’s first picture book and was published in 1968. She wrote it after telling the story at bedtime to her daughter Tracey and son Matthew. Lady Antonia Fraser was one of the first people to review the book and called it, “a dazzling first book,” that would make children “scream with delicious pleasure at the dangerous naughtiness of the notion.” The book has become a classic and appeared in the Telegraph’s list of top children’s books of all time. It has sold over 5 million copies, and celebrated its 40th Anniversary in October 2008. The Tiger Who Came to Tea was recently made into a stage play written by David Wood and produced by Nick Brooke, which has toured the UK.
'I read The Tiger Who Came to Tea when I was a child and loved it. I remember being obsessed with the bit where the tiger came and drank all the water in the tap. I think it was the domesticity of it, that this person was at home and that this could actually happen. It was so matter-of-fact. Nothing really happens but it's still somehow magical.
'Kerr keeps the text very simple, and the illustrations give you clues as to how you should read it. In her Mog books, you can look at Mog's face to see how shocked or dramatic the action is. He is just a funny cat, with a woebegone expression.'
