Pumpkin Day at the Zoo

Voracious animals chow down throughout this account of an autumnal highlight: a zoo’s post-Halloween pumpkin day. Chipper imperative rhymes from Meissner invite a menagerie of species—an aardvark with a “spiffy sniffer,” apes and baboons, hippos, a wildebeest, and others—to partake in a feast (“Marvelous meerkats,/ come have a bite./ We know you love this crunchy/ delight”). As human figures portrayed with various skin tones gather, Pino’s animation-style artwork portrays myriad scenes of the zoo’s animal denizens enthusiastically devouring their treats. A beaver stares out from a pumpkin worn like a diving helmet; a yak, rind speared on its horn, slurps up seeds; and enterprising chipmunks collect fragments in a wooden wagon. Concluding pages show the whole gang with bellies bulging as final remarks imagine what the wild diners might say as thanks for the squashes. The carnivalesque vibe contributes to a genial picture of fall’s bounty from an animal’s-eye view. Ages 4–8. (July)