written by Lou Kuenzler
illustrated by Julia Woolf
(Faber & Faber, 2020)
Purchase on Indiebound.
Purchase on Amazon.
At a Glance
Category/Genre(s):
Picture Book, concept (colors)
Age Range:
3-6 years old
Plot Summary:
“Everyone’s favourite, enthusiastic zebra is back, eager to get in on the act as Annie tries to teach her little brother about colours. But although things don’t turn out quite the way she imagines, together they make the world a brighter and more beautiful place!” (source)
Strengths:
- Beautiful bright illustrations
- Fun and silly rhyme
- introduces colors in a fun and engaging manner
Full Review
My son is 3 years old, and let me tell you, we read a lot of picture books. I am never quite sure if a new book and will hold his wiggling, excited, entergetic attention. Calm Down, Zebra was a knock out of the park. Julia Woolf’s bright, whimsical illustrations caught his attention immediately and he snuggled right up to listen.
He especially likes talking about colors (he asks me at least 5 times a day what my favorite color is). So it was really fun to read a color concept book that also had an engaging story. We paused on every illustration so that my son could look at all the many colors. He especially enjoyed the illustrations with the spots.
Lou Kuenzler’s playful rhyme made the text a lot of fun to read. It was very easy to follow along with the story and my son giggled at many parts. My older daughter was even pulled into the story because she related to Annie as she attempted to teach her little brother his colors.
Final Verdict
If you are looking for a fun, engaging and silly book to introduce or reinforce colors, this is the book for you!
I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Giveaway Time!
Would you like to win a copy of this adorable book? Of course you would! Just comment on this post below. The giveaway will close Thursday, April 30th 2020 at 11:59pm and is open to all residents of the continental USA. Good luck!
Sloth Reads 
This book looks so cute, Rebecca! My just-turned-6-year-old loves animal books and I just know she’d love this one (and she’s turn around and begin drawing pictures of all the animals). Thank you for sharing and for giving us a chance at winning a giveaway. Hope you have a wonderful reading week!
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It’s looks like such a cute book, thanks for the review. Don’t put me in the giveaway though, I live in Canada, so I am ineligible. Have a great week!
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I really like the idea of a color book that does more than simply take the color and show a page of things in that color. The rhyming and story would make this much more worth having to go back to even as they get older.
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I was a super lazy parent who rarely read picture books to teach things (I tried with “new sibling coming” books but my attempt completely failed) but I loved reading with my boys and this one would have been right up our alley. We especially liked ones where things went happily awry.
(If it’s a digital copy, then don’t let me win — I don’t have anyone to share it with and that’s the best part of picture books!)
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Congrats, ejam! You are the winner for the copy of CALM DOWN, ZEBRA! Please email me at rebecca.anne.herzog (at) gmail.com and I’ll make sure to get it sent out!
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