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A review by duffypratt
Zoobreak by Gordon Korman
2.0
It's a kid's caper book, and it has about all the substance that you would expect from a caper book. The characters in the gang are defined by their abilities: there's the climber, the small space guy, the computer wiz, etc... And the "brains" behind the gang is "The Man With The Plan." The plans, of course, go terribly awry. But everything works out in the end.
I've read some reviews where people are concerned about the kind of role models and messages that this might send out to our kids. That's now what bothered me. I was hoping for something more clever and funny. The basic idea is fun. A girl's pet monkey is kidnapped. The kids discover the culprit is the owner of a floating, travelling zoo. No-one will help them get the monkey back, so they take matters into their own hands, but end up stealing all the animals in the zoo, instead of just getting back the monkey. Then they have to take care of the animals, hide them from their parents and the world, while trying to find them good permanent homes.
This could have been hilarious. Instead, it bordered on mildly amusing. But it was quick, and the writing was competent. It's definitely a kids book that's very much for kids. I can imagine some younger kids would like it. But really good kids books are accessible to kids but wonderful for all ages, and this definitely did not fill that bill.
I've read some reviews where people are concerned about the kind of role models and messages that this might send out to our kids. That's now what bothered me. I was hoping for something more clever and funny. The basic idea is fun. A girl's pet monkey is kidnapped. The kids discover the culprit is the owner of a floating, travelling zoo. No-one will help them get the monkey back, so they take matters into their own hands, but end up stealing all the animals in the zoo, instead of just getting back the monkey. Then they have to take care of the animals, hide them from their parents and the world, while trying to find them good permanent homes.
This could have been hilarious. Instead, it bordered on mildly amusing. But it was quick, and the writing was competent. It's definitely a kids book that's very much for kids. I can imagine some younger kids would like it. But really good kids books are accessible to kids but wonderful for all ages, and this definitely did not fill that bill.