'Wild About Books'

Judy Sierra's Fun Story Book With Illustrations By Marc Brown

(CBS)  If you're looking for a book that's going to make your kids giggle, Friday’s Early Readers Club is for you.

Children's author Judy Sierra is well-known for her funny retellings of folktales. Her newest work, “Wild About Books,” is an improbable story about zoo animals learning to read. It hit store shelves last week, and Sierra visits The Early Show to talk about it.

“Wild About Books” tells what happens when a local librarian drives her bookmobile to the zoo. The picture book is dedicated to Dr. Seuss and her rhyming prose is reminiscent of his work.

"More kids learn to read because they love Dr. Seuss' stories than because they study flashcards," Sierra pointed out.

The book takes inspiration from Dr. Seuss in more ways than one:

• The hero of Dr. Suess' "If I Ran the Zoo" was named Mr. McGrew. The librarian in Sierra's book is Molly McGrew.
  
  
• Dr. Suess grew up in Springfield, Mass. Sierra's book takes place in a town called Springfield.
  
  
• Dr. Suess did his first drawings at the local zoo; Sierra's book is all about the zoo.

But in the end, the book is really an homage to librarians and others who get kids interested in reading. Sierra's main goal was simple: "Tell a really improbable story that makes kids laugh."

The illustrations in "Wild About Books" also give kids reason to giggle. They are done by Marc Brown, the famous author/illustrator of the "Arthur" series. It is his first non-Arthur project in over 10 years.

It's aimed at kids ages 4 to 8.

Read an excerpt:

“It started the summer of 2002,
When the Springfield librarian, Molly McGrew,
By mistake drove her bookmobile into the zoo.
Molly opened the door, and she let down the stair,
Turned on the computer, and sat in her chair."

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