4.5 out of 5 Stars

Thank you to Digital Reads Blog Tours and Books, Reviews et al by Shalini for having me on the tour!

Synopsis:

Daniel Daniels spends most of his time doing one of two things:
1. Avoiding the school bully, or
2. Hanging out with his animal friends.
Unfortunately, Daniel’s animal friends all live at The World’s Worst Zoo, run by the cruel and crabby Mr Gregory.
One day, an unfortunate incident with some ointment at the zoo leaves Daniel with a few special tricks up his sleeve‌—‌tricks that he can use to save the animals, and teach Mr Gregory a lesson.
Curious, witty and sweet, this adventurous chapter book will charm and thrill the young and the young-at-heart!

My Thoughts

What a lovely book full of magic and a child’s wonder. The first thing that I love about Daniel was his propensity to exaggerate everything. I could really relate to his judgement of time and math problems, even being an adult I still feel this way at times!

“It was lucky that the bell was about to go. Mrs Reynolds was rambling on about fractions again, and the numbers were sloshing about in my mind like soup. “Three quarters of eight sevenths is eleven billionths,” she was saying. Okay. That might not have been exactly what she was saying, but it was something just as baffling.”

“I looked down at my watch. 3: 01pm. Why hadn’t the bell gone yet? My fractions skills might have been bad, but my time skills were abysmal. I knew this, because every day at school lasted for about 100 hours, and even I knew there weren’t 100 hours in a day.”

It did make me wonder what else was an exaggeration in Daniel’s life. Were his parents that oblivious to his presence?

“Hey Moooom,” I said over dinner the next evening, flashing her my sweetest smile. “Yes darling,” she said, tapping at her phone screen. She was probably looking up hairstyles, or watering her virtual plants.”

Was his Bully as mean and he was made out to be?

I love that this story was about an ordinary little boy with a bully (and some parents who have forgotten how to listen to Daniel, or each other), realising that there is magic out there, and that he is special.

It’s full of heart, and beautiful rhymes,

“One day we’ll be the songbirds Who nest in nooks and eaves We’ll taste the blossoms’ nectar And perch among the leaves. Our joyful, blissful voices Will echo near and far. We promise to sing sweetly And not poop on your car!”

It’s a story you will love to enjoy yourself, for those” young at heart”, or with your children. You’ll love the adventure as Daniel tries to save the animals of the World’s Worst Zoo.

Author Bio

Robbie Yates is an author based in the vibrant city of Melbourne, Australia. He enjoys the crunch of autumn leaves, and eating tasty snacks from his childhood.
In his free time, Robbie likes to read the stories of Roald Dahl, Paul Jennings and J.K. Rowling. Robbie also likes to go geocaching, play board games, and have water-balloon fights.

Website

Website for this book

Facebook

Twitter

Gmail: robbie.b.yates@gmail.com

Daniel Daniel’s and the World’s Worst Zoo is Best Served with a Frisky Zebra Red Wine

This wine is from South Africa and just had the most perfect name!! Okay, so there aren’t any Zebra’s in the World’s Worst Zoo, but Daniel WISHES there was!! I also though red wine was perfect as Daniel’s mother seemed to enjoy a glass of wine and I’m just that all of you at home reading this to your child or children won’t mind a little Mommy or Daddy juice to accompany it!!

CHEERS!!