My Dad at the Zoo

It's a weird book with a gimmick where the kid acts like a parent and the dad acts like a toddler. That's the entire book. The dad demands to go to the zoo, and then they go to the zoo, and he runs off and he throws a temper tantrum because he wants ice cream, but it's not time for ice cream. He gets his hat stolen by an elephant, which he thinks is hilarious. The kid just basically has to rein his dad in every single moment.

I don't know, maybe kids would understand the humor in this, but I kind of think that a kid that was still acting like that would be too young, and this kind of parody satire thing would be lost on them. It's kind of cute, I guess. It's a pretty solid middle ground kind of book. There's nothing really offensive.

I kind of like the art style, which looks more like scribbles in some places, and other places more realistic. The text layout is pretty cool.

I guess it's a sequel or follow-up to another book. It's mostly just annoying. It's showing the worst of kids, acting up the entire time, only it's the dad dragging the kid along. To some extent, it's just too real for me. I'm one of those people that doesn't enjoy watching The Office because it's just too realistic. I guess it's kind of funny to imagine a father doing it--I guess it would be funny if I was watching a live-action short about this. But in book form, something that I would reread... I can't see myself rereading this book. I got the joke; it's over now. And I don't think my kids would get it; they're too young. So it's not terrible. It's just middle of the road. I think the general message is that children are exhausting, but it comes across more like surrealism without any real message.

A child who this was read to might understand that dads don't normally act like that, but I don't think they would get that it's parroting how kids act. It'd be amusing to them on the same level as it would be if like Dad was randomly acting like a snake. It's not engaging enough from an adult perspective. It's a good idea. I'd commend it for that. Decent execution. Just didn't work for me.