Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston

Reviewed by Aimee

Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Some name calling and insults like insufferable brat, pest, witch and so forth.

Violence: Mrs.Krabone asks her friend, Dr. LeFang, to come over and cut up Katrina’s brain.  He will take the naughty parts out with his “cranial puncturing mincer of mind.”  Katrina meets some kids that are mean.  One tries to harm her with a knife.  There is some fighting with monsters at the end as the prisoners try to escape.

Synopsis

We are introduced to Katrina Katrell and the world of Zorgles in this completely rhyming and rhythmic novel.  Katrina is an adventure loving girl.  She is witty and she is smart, all the things her guardian, Mrs. Krabone hates.  In an attempt to escape the evil Mrs. Krabone and the equally sinister lobotomist, Dr. LeFang, Katrina runs away and finds herself in the world of Zorgamazoo.  There she meets Morty, a Zorgle who has just been chosen to solve the mystery of the missing Zorgles.  Together they embark on an adventure that includes new friends, daring escapes and bravery.

I loved this book.  I picked it up at the library but decided after reading it that I needed it on my bookshelf.  This book just begs to be read aloud.  It is deliciously fun.  I loved the pictures that really matched the descriptions of the characters: they were so funny.  I loved how some words were made to look like what they were saying.  For instance the words twisting around really did twist around, the word big was BIG, and the word hairy, was, well, hairy!  Here are the first few lines from the book:

“Here is a story that is stranger than strange.  Before we begin you may want to arrange: a blanket, a cushion, a comfortable seat, and maybe some cocoa and something to eat.”

Zorgamazoo won the 2010 Silver Birch Award, and was shortlisted for the E.B. White Read Aloud Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award.