Reviews for A to Zoo: Subject Access to Children's Picture Books

The average rating for A to Zoo: Subject Access to Children's Picture Books based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-06 00:00:00 Jason Charter A to Zoo is an extensive subject based reader's advisory reference for children's picture books. The edition that I was able to to check out from the library was the 6th edition, published in 2001. From what I can tell, aside from having less titles, this edition is identical to the more current 7th edition (published in 2008). A to Zoo allows the user to locate books in four different ways; by subject, by author, by book title, or by illustrator. In the "Subject Guide" users are given a list of books (Author, Title) that fit under each subject. In the "Bibliographic Index" users are given full bibliographic information for each book, listed by author. The bibliographic information also includes a list of subjects for each book. If the user does not know the author of a certain book, but does know either the title or the illustrator, they can look up books in the "Title Index" or the "Illustrator Index". Entries in both of these indexes are cross referenced to the "Bibliographic Index". This is a invaluable resource for librarians in public libraries and schools. If a librarian wants to do a storytime, book display or program that focuses on a single topic, that can easily find books on that topic using this reference book. Public and school librarians can use this book to help students find books on particular subjects. This book can also be used for collection development insofar as librarians can find titles to fill holes in their collection. For example, if a library does not have any books on Kwanzaa, a list of books about Kwanzaa can be found under the heading "Holidays-Kwanzaa". I especially like the "Illustrator Index" feature. I am often drawn to books by their illustrations, and with this resource and I can find more books by that same illustrator.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-03-03 00:00:00 Michael Davalos WHAT A FIND!! I got this at a library book sale for 50 cents!! It is a reference book for children's picture books. It is broken into five parts: 1) Subject Headings-An alphabetical list of the subjects catalogued in the book. 2) Subject Guide-"This guide to nearly 23,000 picture books for preschool children (although it contains a lot of books I've already read to Hattie, so it's appropriate for toddlers, too) through second graders is catalogued under more than 1,200 subjects." As I was flipping through the pages, I noted that there are books on every subject you can think of: moving, morning, poetry, plants, rhyming text, holidays, first day of school, and on and on and on!!! 3) Bibliographic Guide-"Each book is listed with full bibliographic information. This section is arranged alphabetically by author, or by title when the author is unknown, or by uniform (classic) title." 4) Title Index-"This section contains an alphabetical list of all the titles in the book..." 5) Illustrator Index-A list of illustrators with titles in parenthesis. This is such a great tool for when you've got a child that goes through phases of being interested in different subjects: dinosaurs, cars, dolls, etc. Or when you want to share books about different celebrations and don't know where to find a book. I am so excited to have this book!!! If any of you want to borrow it or peruse through it, you're welcome to. It's in perfect shape. I bought the 6th Edition, not the 7th as is listed in the title here.