
Gecko Press continues to provide New Zealand children with a wealth of innovative, quirky picture books translated from (mostly) European languages, and these four recent offerings are no exception.
The animals featured here display few animal characteristics (except for the zebra parents in
Zou who, unsurprisingly, find it difficult to hold miniature teacups in their standard-sized hoofs) but are instead used to illustrate totally human values-- and foibles.

Both
Zou and
The Big Yawn are aimed at the very young. The former, by French writer Michel Guy, features a young zebra who overcomes a wealth of everyday disasters in order to bring his parents a cup of tea in bed. They eventually get their tea, but much more important is the love that comes with it.
Zou has few words and would suit the beginning reader.
Monika Spang’s
The Big Yawn is the perfect read-aloud bedtime story. The zoo animals prepare themselves for bed in various unexpected ways, linked by a large yawn that moves from one page to the next, rounding up the stragglers, until
‘Some snore, some snuggle, some count sheep,
All the animals are going to sleep…
..And you?’
The illustrations, by Sonya Bougaeva (author/illustrator of 2007’s
The Visitor) are both charming and witty.
The Fearsome Five by Gecko favourite Wolf

Erlbruch would suit a slightly older audience. The five are a self-described group of ‘ugly misfits’ who learn the secret of happiness from a Hyena with a plain face but a good outlook on life. United by friendship, their love of music, and a taste for pancakes, they eventually
‘..discover the old truth that what you look like doesn’t matter as much as what you do, and that being happy is a matter of attitude’.
The Chicken Thief, originally published in French by Beatrice Rodriguez, is one of an increasing number of new wordless picture books that work well at junior level. When a chicken is captured by a night-prowling fox, her distressed friends set off in hot pursuit, desperate to save her before it is too late. But all is not as it seems…
The reader/ viewer is kept one jump ahead of the would-be rescuers in what turns out to be a delightful story about the folly of jumping to conclusions. While
The Chicken Thief can be enjoyed at its simplest level, older children will find more complex layers to explore and much ground for discussion.
No animals were harmed in the making of any of these books.
Reviewed by Cecily Fisher
Published by
Gecko Press