Pandamonia

Chris Owen (text),  Chris Nixon (illus.), Pandamonia,  Fremantle Press,  August 2016,  32pp.,  $24.99 (hbk),  ISBN: 9781925163339

Whatever you do when you visit the zoo, don’t wake the panda! Pandamonia describes the hilarious chain of events that would happen if you do.

The author, a UK-born primary school teacher now living in Perth, pulls out all the stops to amuse his young readers. There’s humming and drumming, prowling and yowling, cavorting and snorting, and a whole lot more. Rhythm and rhyme, alliteration and the odd pun all play their part to create a joyous read-aloud experience. I was very pleased to see a healthy proportion of Aussie animals in the zoo menagerie.

The illustrations delightfully complement the playful text in a distinctive style, using natural colours. Even the endpapers get in on the act, showing a panda in a variety of sleeping postures, and helpfully supply a (made-up) definition of the (made-up) title of this book. What a hoot!

Pandamonia has a joie de vivre sure to inject read-aloud story-times and role-play activities with fun. I challenge any young reader not to giggle while acting out jiggling tapirs’ bottoms, yakking yaks and a tortoise “coming out of her shell”!

Downloadable Teachers’ Notes are available from the Fremantle Press website.

Australian Curriculum Outcomes cited are K-3 English, The Arts and Biological Sciences.

Reviewed by Julie Murphy