Here are 100 books that If I Ran the Zoo fans have personally recommended if you like
If I Ran the Zoo.
Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I grew up in rural Missouri, where my best friends were horses, dogs, cats, ducks, and an occasional squirrel or injured bird. I developed rhyming and rhythm at an early age, and I got my first newspaper byline with a rhyming opinion piece. When I grew up, I became a writer. Then, when I had kids, I discovered the joy of writing children’s books, starting with rhyming board books and animals. To date, I’ve had over 500 books published, with at least one rhyming book annually for the past 40 years. The joy comes from writing my heart—my love for animals, rhyme, children, and God (not in that order).
Denise Fleming has a wonderful way with words—unexpected rhymes, internal rhymes, repetition. I love animals, and beetles will do, especially these beetles—striped, spotted, all-over dotted. These beetles are super interesting, too. They creep and crawl, hide in cracks, and even crash. They are noisy, gnawing beetles, and you will love them. I’m no fan of bugs, but I love these guys. They bop and bring joy...especially if they stay inside of the pages of this book.
They crawl up walls, they hide in cracks, they flip, they fly, and sometimes...Crrrash. Beetles some in all shapes and sizes, and they are everywhere in this thoroughly buggy, beautifully designed book. There are striped beetles, spotted beetles, all-over-dotted beetles - and don't forget the noisily gnawing beetles! Whether you love bugs or whether the sight of them makes you itch, you will adore this infested offering from the beloved Denise Fleming.
I grew up in rural Missouri, where my best friends were horses, dogs, cats, ducks, and an occasional squirrel or injured bird. I developed rhyming and rhythm at an early age, and I got my first newspaper byline with a rhyming opinion piece. When I grew up, I became a writer. Then, when I had kids, I discovered the joy of writing children’s books, starting with rhyming board books and animals. To date, I’ve had over 500 books published, with at least one rhyming book annually for the past 40 years. The joy comes from writing my heart—my love for animals, rhyme, children, and God (not in that order).
In my home, this book is a classic. I love to see joyful animals enjoying life together. Rhymes are fresh, with a jazz rhythm that makes little readers want to dance along. It makes a great off-to-bed book as children put on their jammies with the hippo and then beg, “Read it again!”
In this irrepressible good-night board book from the bestselling and beloved Sandra Boynton, it's time to head to bed to the beat!
A jump-roping chicken and a pig on a swing. A moose in striped pajamas and an elephant in a fuzzy one-piece with feet. In sing-along nuttiness reminiscent of Barnyard Dance!, it's time for the animals to put on their jammies and get ready for bed.
Pull on the bottoms. Put on the top. Get yourself set to pajama-dee-bop. It's PAJAMA TIME!
I grew up in rural Missouri, where my best friends were horses, dogs, cats, ducks, and an occasional squirrel or injured bird. I developed rhyming and rhythm at an early age, and I got my first newspaper byline with a rhyming opinion piece. When I grew up, I became a writer. Then, when I had kids, I discovered the joy of writing children’s books, starting with rhyming board books and animals. To date, I’ve had over 500 books published, with at least one rhyming book annually for the past 40 years. The joy comes from writing my heart—my love for animals, rhyme, children, and God (not in that order).
All kinds of God’s creatures sense the coming of fall as poetic language teaches young readers multiple animal and people truths. Kids will discover the joy of sensing the clues of nature and the signs that forecast changing seasons. It’s fun to guess which animal will be first to figure out the “mystery.”
The author uses ordinal numbers in a natural way, teaching first, second, third, etc., and teaching counting skills as well. I love the simple illustrations of animals acting the way each animal really acts. It’s a power-packed little book, weaving together a fall joy. And the more a parent reads the book, the more the child learns.
The apples are ripe! Which animal will be first to know? Or second? Or third? Inspire young readers to notice the arrival of fall with ordinal numbers in this beautifully illustrated picture book.
Nature gives us many signs of the changing seasons, if we pay attention and use our senses like animals do. Author Laurie Nazzaro Knowlton's poetic language seamlessly weaves together the arrival of fall, animal communication, and counting with ordinal numbers. Steph Marshall's bright, bold illustrations capture the animals' actions as they enjoy a fall feast.
Perfect as a read-aloud for fall story times and preschool and kindergarten…
I grew up in rural Missouri, where my best friends were horses, dogs, cats, ducks, and an occasional squirrel or injured bird. I developed rhyming and rhythm at an early age, and I got my first newspaper byline with a rhyming opinion piece. When I grew up, I became a writer. Then, when I had kids, I discovered the joy of writing children’s books, starting with rhyming board books and animals. To date, I’ve had over 500 books published, with at least one rhyming book annually for the past 40 years. The joy comes from writing my heart—my love for animals, rhyme, children, and God (not in that order).
I love to boogie, especially with kids and grandkids. We are a family of animal lovers, believers in Jesus, and crazy (in-house) dancers. This book has it all! The rhythm of each line is a song and dance as each animal boogie woogie oogies. Kids pick up animal movements: elephants stomp, stomp boogie woogie oogie; monkeys swing; birds fly. Child listeners get to guess which animal swings in trees or flies in the sky.
There is much joy to be found as the animals, readers, and listeners do the Animal Boogie.
Dance on down to the jungles of India, where 6 colorful creatures are jumping and jiving beneath the canopy. In our bestselling singalong ever, inclusive illustrations invite all children to join in the fun. Kids beg to hear it again and again!
My faith is core to who I am. I love Jesus wholeheartedly and believe true fulfillment only comes through a relationship with Him. I believe we are all created on purpose for a purpose. I want every person I come in contact with to know that they are powerful, chosen, loved, and never alone. I also love creating and reading real and fictional stories that have a message. I believe that stories can seep through our layers and speak to the deepest parts of who we are. The books on my list are the ones that seeped deep down into my heart.
Every time I read this book (and series), I am in awe of God’s love for me. (Seriously, Aslan hits right in the feels for me.) That love calls me to live with intention because I was intentionally created. I am reminded that there is something beyond us, but our lives can impact the battles we can’t see here and now.
A beautiful paperback edition of The Magician's Nephew, book one in the classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. This edition is complete with cover and interior art by the original illustrator, Pauline Baynes.
On a daring quest to save a life, two friends are hurled into another world, where an evil sorceress seeks to enslave them. But then the lion Aslan's song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible.
The Magician's Nephew is the first book in C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy…
Every morning when I sit at my computer, I’m reminded by a post-it note stuck to my monitor that my self-ordained purpose is to “bring readers joy.” Like many, I escaped into books as a child, and I’ve been seeking out stories that encapsulate wonder, delight, and, most importantly, love ever since. I began my self-publishing journey in 2020 and am thrilled to have found my place in the fantasy romance genre, writing romcoms with a heaping spoonful of ridiculous magic. I’ve written a number of standalone novels as well as a (sub)urban fantasy series, Vacancy, and a traditional fantasy romance series with a satirical twist, Villains & Virtues.
I’m a sucker for any book about books, and this one features a librarian who can speak with magical tomes—how much better does it get? Well, it gets quite a lot better when you throw in a demonically indebted sorcerer who’s as flirty as he is dangerous.
I devoured this book and wish I could read it for the first time all over again. Rogerson weaves a beautiful world that’s so easy to get swept up in, complete with a sword-wielding heroine.
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer's Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery-magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. Then an act of sabotage releases the library's most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy.…
As the saying goes, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Ahem. Not actually. Breaking cover doesn't typically demand killing people. But I might lose my security clearance and my diplomatic immunity in Fairy. Which I don't want to do, so shall we say I have a lively imagination and no personal knowledge about spy craft or espionage either in this world or in Fairy? Promise. I know nothing. And anyway, you can't prove it!
My fifth-grade teacher read this book to my class in 1987, and it lit my imagination on fire!
I would have gone to school, even if it were optional while she was reading this story about three children who learn how to “see” their way to a world of magic and adventure. They ultimately discover myriad and sundry wonderful creatures in a fantasy world where wonder abounds.
I love the understanding that magic is right under our noses, just waiting to be discovered!
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles was the second children’s novel ever written by Julie Andrews, the beloved star of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Perfect for young readers who love whimsical stories about magic!
The Whangdoodle was once the wisest, the kindest, and the most extraordinary creature in the world. Then he disappeared and created a wonderful land for himself and all the other remarkable animals—the ten-legged Sidewinders, the little furry Flukes, the friendly Whiffle Bird, and the treacherous, "oily" Prock. It was an almost perfect place where the last of the really great Whangdoodles could…
I was a Navy Brat for most of my childhood, moving from place to place every couple of years. It was hard, but my mom somehow always created a community around us of people that I could almost call my aunts and uncles. As an adult, I’ve also found people that I love like family, and created my own little group with my own people. It’s something that I write about in every single book I pen and I’m sure it will continue because I love when people find their people. It’s my favorite.
While this book is a middle-grade fantasy, I love it so much.
Two enemy clans working together to save their world from a threat bigger than either of them is great, but when you also make it so that each representative is an outcast, well, it’s that much better. Not only do these kids work together, facing fear and prejudices head-on, but they become their own family, and it’s oh-so magical.
I again recommend the audiobook, as it’s narrated by the great David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jr., Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who, and Crowley on Good Omens), so it is fantastic.
The No.1 bestselling series from current Waterstones Children's Laureate and author of How To Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell. Enter a land of wizards, warriors, mythical creatures and powerful Magic in an exciting fantasy adventure.
Witches are creating havoc in the Wildwoods and danger lurks behind every tree trunk.
Wish is in possession of a powerful, Magic Spelling Book; Xar has a dangerous Witchstain on his hand. Together they can save the Wildwoods from the curse of the Witches but they are separated by the highest wall imaginable, and time is running out ...
I love fantasies that dream up totally new worlds! Some people condemn the fantasy genre as formulaic, and sometimes they’re right—but it shouldn’t be so! Fantasies can explore worlds as wide and wild and wonderful as the human imagination itself! Anything’s possible! But I also love a fantasy world that’s as real, coherent, and consistent as our own real world. I think that’s the ultimate challenge for any author: to create it all from the grassroots up. And for any reader, the trip of a lifetime! My personal preference is for worlds a bit on the dark side—just so long as they blow my mind!
This is a one-off, and as far as I know, Wangerin never wrote anything else on the same level. It starts out like an animal fable—the main characters are animals—but gradually takes on a cosmic dimension. By the time I finished, I was gasping for breath and wondering, what was that?!
The three forms of darkness threatening the animals are each more tremendous than the last. They’re genuinely threatening, and the world seems inescapably doomed. Wangerin, like all the best fantasy writers, takes his world very, very seriously—he never belittles his creation as a mere game. In another lifetime, I used to be a university professor (when living through 25 years of writer’s block!), and I’m proud to remember how many students I turned on to this and other fantasy novels.
The timeless National Book Award-winning story of the epic struggle between good and evil.
“Far and away the most literate and intelligent story of the year … Mr. Wangerin’s allegorical fantasy about the age-old struggle between good and evil produces a resonance; it is a taut string plucked that reverberates in memory” —New York Times
“Belongs on the shelf with Animal Farm, Watership Down and The Lord of the Rings. It is, like them, an absorbing, fanciful parade of the war between good and evil. A powerful and enjoyable work of the imagination.” —Los Angeles Times
I love Paris. It is one of my favorite cities on Earth. One of the reasons I adore it so much is because it has such a palpable sense of enchantment. There is magic in its cathedrals and catacombs, its pâtisseries and feal markets, its rich tradition of art and joie de vivre. You can feel it in your soul as you walk through the city, under the gazes of its gargoyles and the charm of its cafes. Thus, I’ve always been drawn to stories that take this one step further—exploring a Paris that harbors actual magic.
Megan Shepherd has long been a favorite author of mine, and her Grim Lovelies series is the perfect mix of magic and Paris.
When Anouk, a witch’s enchanted familiar, is suddenly accused of her mistress’s murder, she must flee through the city to discover who actually committed the crime before time runs out and she turns back into an animal.
I loved the magical wishing fountains, the glitzy shopping sprees in Galeries Lafayette, and the tense race to keep the main character’s humanity.
"A magical dash through the streets of Paris. Part caper, part fairy tale, part opulent witch society, you'll be swept away by all of it. GRIM LOVELIES absolutely dazzles." -Kendare Blake, #1 NYT bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series
"A darkly enchanting saga...bound to attract fans of Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black, and more." -Entertainment Weekly
"I lost myself in this magical book." -Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval and Legendary
Seventeen-year-old Anouk envies the human world, where people known as Pretties lavish themselves in fast cars, high fashion, and have the freedom to fall in…
