My Dad at the Zoo

In 2012’s My Dad Is Big and Strong, BUT..., Saudo’s young narrator recounted his difficulty in getting his father to go to sleep. Now a trip to the zoo proves just as difficult: Dad poses for a photo with a flamingo, begs for ice cream (only to drop it), and gets his hat stolen by an elephant. “Dad cracks up, but not me,” grumps the boy. “That must be the eighth hat he’s lost at the zoo!” The responsibility role reversal is just as funny this time around as Di Giacomo gleefully reflects Dad’s inexhaustible energy and his son’s growing weariness in scraggly charcoal lines and washes of muted color. Ages 3–7. (May)