Cooking Up Reading: Mealtime for Zoo Animals

What do zoo animals eat? They eat some of the same foods you do. They eat other things too. Young orangutans love to munch on raw broccoli. Here is a broccoli salad you can eat.

Broccoli Salad

You will need:
Large bowl
Small bowl
Large spoon
6 cups broccoli florets
8 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup raisins
1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1 small jar of bacon bits

Directions:
In the large bowl, toss together broccoli, green onions, sunflower seeds, raisins, and bacon bits.
In the small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. Toss with vegetables to coat. Cover and chill. Eat with you fingers, just like an orangutan!

Mealtime for Zoo Animals is one of six books in a series about how zoo animals eat, sleep, play, bathe, have babies, and make noise.  These easy to read books are written for children in preschool to first grade with just one sentence and a photo on each page spread.

Other books in this series are: Mother and Baby Zoo Animals, Noisytime for Zoo Animals, Playtime for Zoo Animals, Sleepytime for Zoo Animals and Splashtime for Zoo Animals They are all out of print, but you can look for them in your library and they will soon be available online as e-books.

From Kirkus Reviews
It's chow time in the Zoo Animals series, and every one of the animals has a different dinner menu. Since mealtime is one of the biggest draws for young zoo visitors, these full-color photographs of the creatures eating will be a hit. While a rhinoceros clips the lawn like ``a giant living lawn mower,'' an elephant scoops up different fruits (peels included) to make a fruit salad in its mouth. A sentence or two accompanies every photograph, while the simple index helps emerging readers locate pictures of their favorite animals. It makes for a perfect visual outing on those days when the zoo is closed. (Picture book. 4-7)