Travels with Zozo...and the Bears - by A J Atlas (Hardcover)

About the Book

While vacationing in Alaska, pet bunny Zozo befriends a young brown bear and helps reunite him with his family. Zozo's friendship grows while playing hide-and-go-seek, swimming in a river, and learning about bears. First in the series.

Book Synopsis

What adventures would they have? What trouble would they get into? What friends would they make?

In the Travels with Zozo... series of illustrated children's books for ages 4-8 years old, a fun-loving family of four brings their pet bunny, Zozo, on their trips around the world, and Zozo's escapades are bound to amaze, amuse, and inspire you.

Author A.J. Atlas' extensive travel experiences in nearly fifty countries and throughout all fifty U.S. states provide firsthand insight into the settings for the books. Award-winning illustrator Anne Zimanski uses bright colors and expert digital artistry to turn the real-life places into beautifully colorful, imaginative worlds for Zozo and readers to explore. She adds an abundance of charm and heart to the culturally-diverse characters whom Zozo meets, and she packs Zozo's sweet, little, furry face full of emotion. Then, together, Atlas and Zimanski keep the pages filled with goofy gags and funny antics. So many, in fact, that rereading the stories is sure to surprise you with something new and keep you laughing.

The first book in the exciting, new series, Travels with Zozo...and the Bears, takes readers to a coastal island in Alaska, a place with more brown bears than the whole lower 48 states combined. Zozo and her human family are on vacation there to experience all that the island has to offer and to see what fun things the bears are up to.

After exploring the Alaskan wilderness by floatplane and sea kayak, a hike takes them inland to a treehouse hideaway. From high above the rainforest path, they see brown bears in action--catching fish in the river, enjoying wild blueberries, and having all kinds of fun.

Along the way, Zozo and her family mingle with whimsically illustrated locals--goofy, golfing martens, tic-tac-toe-playing sea otters, a bear cleverly disguised in a hollow tree trunk stealing a sandwich, red-breasted sapsuckers, Stellar's jays, orcas, porcupines, and many others.

On their return journey, imagination and creative storytelling take hold as Zozo befriends a young brown bear and helps reunite him with his family. Zozo's newfound friendship grows while playing hide-and-go-seek, swimming in a river, and learning about hibernation.

Review Quotes

This is an 8-minute read but it has so much to offer that it takes us longer because we love all the fun we're having. We count to 10 a second time, look for animals, laugh at the silly bears, talk about the real things we're seeing like floatplanes, woodpeckers eating bugs, and critters galore. There's so much here!! Good for my 3 yr old who can listen to a long story so long as there are tons of interesting pictures. Also good for my second grader who likes to alternate reading pages with me. He reads the ones with less words and I read the pages with more! Great fun for everyone! Highly recommend!!

- reviewed by verified purchaser

These are sweet stories meant for any youngster. The main character is a kind, helpful, friendly bunny rabbit who models all the qualities that preschoolers and early elementary school kids need reinforced. We've read the 1st four & each is very different from the others, couldn't pick a favorite, they're all really good. They're well written & illustrations are wonderful!! Looking forward to buying the next ones!

- reviewed by verified purchaser

Are you and your child looking for your next literary adventure? Then look no further than A.J. Atlas' Travels with Zozo... series, a picture book series for ages 4 to 8 in the same vein of exploration and discovery as popular series The Magic School Bus or The Magic Tree House. In this delightful series, readers get to join Zozo, "a hoppity, floppity, huggable, snuggable pet bunny," as she goes on adventures around the world. On her trips with her family, Zozo learns about exotic locales, national landmarks, and unique cultures. There is a whole fascinating world for readers to discover as they travel along with Zozo. Atlas' series will help young readers learn to value diversity and find wonder in the world's cultures and sites.

In the first installment of this series, Travels with Zozo...and the Bears, Zozo meets a lost brown bear on Admiralty Island, Alaska. As she helps the young bear find his brothers, she learns about the lives of brown bears and takes in the beauty of the Alaskan landscapes. The story is a sweet tale that encourages readers to help those in need and develop friendships with those from different backgrounds (or in this case, different animal kingdoms!). Coupled with Anne Zimanski's colorful, energetic, and humorous illustrations that entice readers to inspect each page for hidden gems, this story is one that will delight readers young and old and inspire them to learn more about this amazing world we live in.