We’re reading in themes these days, or at least in two themes: zoos and dinosaurs. We lucked out again on the zoo front by finding “A Zoo for Mister Muster” at the library last week. “A Zoo for Mister Muster” was published almost 40 years ago. I don’t remember reading this one as a kid, but I read a lot of books that had a similar feel. The peachy tones overlain by sketchy black lines are like the words to nursery rhymes: You might have forgotten them after the 6th grade, but they come back in a flood of familiarity as soon as you’re re-exposed to them with your child. When I read this one to Zadie, I kind of feel like I’m sharing a bit of my childhood with her.
The story is simple and sweet. Mister Muster, a well-dressed fellow with rosy cheeks, spends every sunny day at the zoo. The animals love him so much that when the elephant steals the zookeeper’s key and lets all of the animals out of their cages, they go straight to Mister Muster’s house. He happily lets them in and serves them a big chocolate cake while the zookeeper and a crew of weapons-brandishing policemen (“Open up in the name of the law!”) search for the missing animals. They eventually find them at Mister Muster’s and bribe them back to the zoo by offering Muster a job as the assistant zookeeper.
“A Zoo for Mister Muster” is a good companion to “Goodnight, Gorilla,” by Peggy Rathmann. Both stories involve animals letting themselves out of their cages. But the former ends with a person going back to the zoo with the animals while the latter ends with a gorilla and mouse sneaking back out of the zoo and into the zookeeper’s bed. I find it odd that both of these books have animals getting out of their cages because they want to be with people, rather than for any of the real reasons why animals might want to break free. But I suppose the stories wouldn’t be as heart-warming if the animals trotted off into the jungle, lazy and vulnerable after years of being fed blueberry muffins from Starbucks.
