To begin with, the zoo looks antiquated - think old steel bars, sparse enclosures, etc. That’s now how I’m talking about it here though, because I think it’s also important to consider the messages this book inadvertently sends, and what it means for the children who read this book more than 60 years after it was first published. Okay, yes, I should be reading this book the context of the late 1950s, when it was written. At the end of the story, Sammy decides to return to the zoo. People don’t seem to think it strange to see a seal wandering around downtown New York, so we’ll (mostly) take that suspension of disbelief, for what it is (but more on that in a bit). A zookeeper grants him the right to explore the city on his own, and Sammy has all sorts of adventures - including going to school. The basic premise is that Sammy the Seal suffers depression because he wants to know what the world is like outside the (Bronx? Central Park?) zoo. You may remember this book from your own childhood (I remember it from mine) - or perhaps you’ve already read it to your children. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to read Sammy the Seal by Syd Hoff (1959) to an elementary school student.
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