A Review of Jules Feiffer’s A Room with a Zoo (Michael Di Capua Books, 2005; rpt. Hyperion, 2007)
Nine-year-old Julie wants a dog, but her parents say that she must be ten and a half and able to walk a dog by herself before they will get her one. Julie loves other animals, too, so she talks her parents and relatives into giving her creatures that do not need walking: cats, fish, a turtle, a hamster, and a hermit crab. She almost gets a rabbit to keep for spring break from school, but he is sick and dies at her friend Jenna’s home. Julie lost the parental permission slip when she needed to show it to her teacher. This story is realistic and clearly based on Feiffer’s adopted daughter and the escapades of her pets. For example, Julie’s cat Timmy vomits and poops when the family travels. Despite Julie’s attempts at the “Great Experiment” of getting animals to be friends when they are natural enemies, her large ferocious fish Oscar eats a smaller fish before Julie separates them. One disastrous day, Julie’s father hurts his back, the hamster escapes, Oscar winds up in…