READING LEVEL: 4.7 AR POINTS: 7.0

What a great introduction to fantasy adventure reading for kids age 8-12, grades 3-7. This is the first of six in The Secret Zoo Series. I purchased this first book for one of my grandies. If she enjoys it, then we'll see about getting the rest of the series.

Megan has gone missing, and has been missing now for three weeks. Megan and her older brother, Noah, live right next to the Clarksville City Zoo, with a fourteen foot tall brick wall between their house and the zoo. They have built a clubhouse 25 feet up into the tree so they are able to watch the zoo animals anytime they want.

For some reason, Megan begins to secretly visit the zoo, studying and taking notes on all the different animals in different parts of the zoo near closing time when she suddenly disappears.

Noah is visited in the middle of the night by a strange Kingfisher bird named Marlo who leaves a note for him to visit Mr. Tall Tail, the monkey at the zoo. From there he begins to receive bits and pieces of notes written by Megan on her special stationary from different zoo animals that send clues to his sister's last whereabouts. Noah is convinced that the zoo animals have something to do with Megan's disappearance. But he will need the help of their best friends, Ella and Ritchie.

They discover that inside the zoo are tunnels that lead to a whole new mystical secret zoo deep inside. There, people and animals all get along. There, they discover animals that were supposedly extinct but were alive and well. There, they are able to communicate with the animals. Megan could be anywhere inside this Secret Zoo, but their greatest fear is that she could have ended up inside the Dark Lands, which has been sealed closed with the vicious sasquatches, for over eighty years. Noah and his friends would enter the Dark Lands, risking their very own lives in hopes of finding Megan.

What kid wouldn’t love an adventure like this one? There was a fairly slow spell at the end of the book. The author was a little long-winded in explaining the history of the Secret Zoo and how it came about. But, if a kid can get past that and back onto the adventure, then good to go. ( )

Ages 7-10
Grades 4-7

This book was a bit Stranger Things and a bit Willy Wonka. I was proofing it for consideration of having a 7 year old read it and determined pretty early on that it was not appropriate. There are many secrets kept from parents (by instruction of other adults) and kids running off in the middle of the night. It also felt like the author rushed through the ending of the book while trying to set up for a follow-on book.

Overall it was not a bad book in general, but it seems to be set in a time that doesn’t exist anymore and may give kids ideas for activities that are no longer considered safe. ( )

Leaving aside all ethical questions and concerns about zoos as an institution, I read this to my son, aged 4, and we both really enjoyed it. I think the ideal reader would be 8 or 9 years old, though, because there were a few moments that were too violent and some others that were too complex for a 4 year old.

The broad concept, of a conspiracy involving animals and people, and the feature of magic unfolding slowly in a story for kids, really work well. ( )

I read this first book that is magically linked by portals through the neighborhood zoo, and his sister is captive in the Land of Sasquatches. The story plays out with hints dropped about who is running the zoo, and how is started throughout the whole book, but that sets it up perfectly for a series. ( )