For the budding Vetinarian in our home...

My 6 year old daughter, Amanda, has already proclaimed that she wants to be a Vetinarian when she grows up. I have seen the care and love she gives to all her stuffed plush as well as live kittens and puppies and feel that she is making a wise choice.

Because of her love with animals, I decided to subscribe to Zoobooks for her. This is a wonderful children's magazine that comes out monthly. Each monthly issue is dedicated to one animal.

This issue deals with Gorillas.

The pictures of the gorillas are just beautiful. The pictures are similar in quality as to what you would find in National Geographic.

There are also cartoon like pictures of various gorillas.

There are some pictures and an article that show comparisons between the gorilla frame and personality as to a human's frame and personality. I read the article over before reading to her, because I was afraid the Theory of Evolution was going to be discussed and I did not want Amanda to think that she came from a monkey.

I was greatly relieved when the article only discussed our similarities and differences with no mention of evolution.

One thing that impressed me is that all the articles are typed in a larger font than what is normally used. This is perfect for beginning readers.

There are a couple of pages of activities to do that relate to the gorilla. A couple of code puzzles and a page to draw a gorilla. This page was too mature for my 6 year old but perfect for the 8 year old.

This is one magazine I enjoyed reading with both the children. I learned as much as they did about gorillas and it really opened up the topic of extinction, and endangerment as well as 'what can we do to protect the gorilla?'.

One of the things I learned about the gorilla, is that both the gorilla and the human have a similar shaped hand. Each have five fingers, fingernails, and even fingerprints. Since gorillas use their hands to walk, they bend their fingers and walk on their knuckles. Only gorillas and chimpanzees walk this way.

Gorillas have really been misportrayed in the media. By nature, gorillas are peaceful animals who 'know their place' but will attack only if provoked or threatened.

When baby gorillas are born, they weigh only 4 pounds. They have very sweet baby faces just like humans, but they are born with a powerful grip in both their feet and hands. This is because the gorillas stay on the move and the baby must be able to hold onto it's mother. In the wild, momma gorillas learn how to care for their young by watching other momma gorillas, but in captivity-for example a zoo, many times the zoo keepers must teach the momma how to care for her young~~~and I thought it was instinct.

This magazine comes out once a month and is a modest $19.95 for a yearly subscription. The pages are beautiful and many are suitable for framing.

We also got a free poster with ours showing a baby and momma elephant.

The parent company is Wildlife Education, Ltd, but I am not sure if the paid subscription goes to help the endangered species or not.

For more information contact:
www.zoobooks.com