Series: The secret zoo #2
Author: Bryan Chick
Genre: Fantasy, Magical realism, Children
First published 2009
Book description (from GoodReads): Only weeks after their return from the Secret Zoo, Noah and his friends must go back—and face their biggest challenge yet. With monstrous sasquatches freely attacking the denizens of the zoo and the evil Shadowist at large, the fate of the world is at stake. As Crossers, Noah, Megan, Richie, and Ella would help protect the zoo from these dangers. But do they have what it takes to complete their training? And what other secrets are hiding in the shadows?
Review:
It is definitely a quick and easy to understand read. The kids are brought in to "work" as volunteers in the zoo in order to explain to their parents their presence in the zoo. But that's where the attempts at the logical explanations end. On one hand, I doubt any parent will allow their elementary school children to "work". Especially when just a few weeks ago, one child went missing after being trapped in the zoo in a weird unexpected room and could have died there as she was found only by chance after days of being labeled missing.
So after Megan is found in the end of the previous book; (**Spoiler for first book coming) the explanation the secret zoo society come sup with is:
She tells her parents that she was exploring the zoo and went to an area that is under construction. While messing around where she shouldn't the door was closed and she was unable to open the door and she ends up being trapped there for days. Animals come up with the idea to leave wrappers of "food" that explains ho she didn't starve. Again a very weak explanation. But moving on.
So now the children need to help the secret society, so they start to be trained by the "descendants". They are a group of teenagers who are very hostile towards the children. They are angry at the kids for messing with things they do not understand leading to opening a portal that unleashed monsters to the "real world".
We do get a bit of the history of how the secret zoo was created, this is a very soft magic world. No many broad explanations other than this is how it happened- the story of the triplets is whimsical and is not explained at all, but still sounds intriguing.
The story about the descendants is also very vague, the way the children discover it, is a huge stretch. But still interesting.
I still recommend this book for children to get into reading. Again is not a literary jewel. It could use a bit more of editing and it soffers from middle book syndrome. Not much happens but its giving us the a bit of the history of the world and helping to make the introduction of other characters.
It was fun as you read but it left me feeling like not much happened and that the story is at a standstill really. Again the adults seem to give far too much responsibility to children. I mean they are trying to save the world from monsters, so why would you throw untrained children with zero information to the front lines of fighting?
It was used to accomplish the challenges:
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Children literature
Buzzwordathon- word "Secret"
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