The Last Zookeeper
by Aaron Becker; illus. by the author
Primary, Intermediate    Candlewick    40 pp.
3/24    9781536227680    $18.99

Becker’s (The Tree and the River, rev. 3/23) latest wordless fantasy takes readers to a post-apocalyptic future. Animals in a flooded zoo huddle on exposed bits of dry land; they are tended by an enormous yellow robot with wind turbines mounted on its back. Becker works in landscape orientation, with the robot’s verticality dominating most compositions. Viewers get a sense of its scale by the relative smallness of the animals—it can hold two pandas, an adult and a cub, in its palm. Becker gives readers no clues as to the nature of the calamity that has befallen this place beyond the endless water, the decay of the zoo buildings, and the utter absence of humans. But he does give them some semblance of hope. As the water rises, the robot fashions an ark of sorts. The animals file aboard, and they all set sail on a journey that gives Becker ample opportunity to explore the moods of his seascape. An encounter with another robot, this one blue and powered by solar panels, leads to sanctuary. Its hot air balloon accommodates both robots and all the animals, carrying them to an Edenic island, lush with vegetation and complete with waterfall and rainbow. Becker’s characteristically virtuosic ink and watercolor paintings offer much for young readers to pore over and peer at, which may be enough for many. Others will find the story and the questions it poses lingering long after the book is closed.

From the January/February 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.