Don't Feed the Boy

I won a copy of Don't Feed the Boy through goodreads (thank you!) and was really excited to read it, mostly because I love zoos. This is a children's book that seems best suited for middle school aged children.

THE GIST OF IT:
Whit is an eleven-year-old boy who quite literally lives at the zoo with his parents. His father is the elephant caretaker and his mother is the director of the zoo. Whit is not allowed to leave the property and has grown very bored of the zoo, which he knows every nook and cranny of from being confined there so long. He longs to escape and have a normal life, which to him includes going to a school rather than being home schooled and having friends. His parents don't seem to notice (or care) that Whit is unhappy because they are so wrapped up in the zoo and the animals that reside there. Whit feels unimportant and unloved. Early in the book, Whit means Stella. She is a girl his age who comes to the zoo frequently and draws birds (hence him nicknaming her "the Bird Girl). Stella also wants to escape her home life; we soon find out that she has a very legitimate reason for wanting to do so. The events that take place push Whit to prove just what kind of friend he can be.

THE CHARACTERS:
Whit is not the most likable character. He is whiny and pretty self-indulgent. When we find out about the horrible home circumstances that Stella deals with, Whit basically responds with, "Well, if you think THAT's bad..." as if competing with who has the more terrible home life. Thankfully, this seems to be intentional because Whit evolves and matures throughout the book. You start to really like Whit. I felt almost...proud of him. I loved how much Whit knew about the zoo and wanted to have a friend like him, who could sneak me into the areas the public didn't get to see and tell me behind the scenes secrets. Stella was a very likable character. She was smart and aware. There was a point near the end of the book where she seemed bratty and ungrateful, which really rubbed me the wrong way because it seemed inconsistent to her attitude throughout the rest of the book. The other characters, although not as significant, were still described well enough that I could envision them and remember who they were by name.

THE ILLUSTRATIONS:
It has been a long time since I read a book that had illustrations, and I really enjoyed them. They weren't overdone and went perfectly with the story. The outside cover (front and back) means more to me now that I have read the book because each animal shown is there for a reason and had something to do with the story.

I really enjoyed this book and will pass it down to my daughter when she is old enough to read,(it may be a little beyond her since she is only two now) but I am already teaching her to love animals and zoos as much as I do! I really enjoyed the descriptions of the zoo and the animals facts that were scattered throughout. I also liked the story itself and that nothing seemed to have loose ends at the end. It wasn't an unrealistic or sugar-coated ending, however. It was just a hopeful one.