Review: Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston

Katrina Katrell is an adventuresome girl who lives with Mrs. "Krabby" Krabone. When her creative and active intelligence becomes too much for her guardian, Katrina decides to run away.

Mortimer "Morty" Yorgle lives underground in Zorgamazoo and wants nothing more than to write his sports columns and visit his dad who is ill. But one day Morty gets picked to enter the lottery, and his prize is the dubious honor of getting a chance to search far and wide for the lost Zorgles of Zorgamazoo.

When Katrina and Morty meet up one day just when they each are in dire need of help, they combine their talents and take off for the adventure of a lifetime.

Robert Paul Weston's Zorgamazoo is a scary, funny, gross, and exciting tale told in rhyming couplets. The heroes are an improbable team of a young girl and a rumply middle-aged Zorgle journalist who will capture your imagination and take your whole family on a mission to solve a Zorgamazoo mystery. Boys and girls, young and old will find themselves captivated by the spunky girl and her mild-mannered friend. The pair travels to strange lands where they meet all kinds of creatures, and they aren't quite sure if they will ever manage to make it back home.

To give you a flavor of the text, here's a bit from the publisher's summary:

Are You a Believer in Fanciful Things? In Pirates and Dragons and Creatures and Kings?

Then sit yourself down in a comfortable seat, with maybe some cocoa and something to eat, and I’ll spin you the tale of Katrina Katrell, a girl full of courage (and daring, as well!), who down in the subway, under the ground, saw something fantastical roaming around . . .

What was it she saw? I’d rather not say. (Who’s ever heard of a Zorgle, anyway?)

But if you are curious, clever and brave, if intrepid adventure is something you crave, then open this book and I’ll leave it to you to uncover the secret of ZORGAMAZOO!

I was lucky enough to have listened to the audio edition (Penguin Audio) read by the fabulous Alan Cumming. This is a charming audio production that is brilliantly narrated by Cumming and can be enjoyed by all ages. Reading rhyming couplets is not an easy task, and Cumming is just the right kind of dramatic and never falls into singsong. My full audio review will be published by AudioFile magazine in the coming weeks.

One warning: Krabby is a bit mean and some children may be frightened; the target age for the book is age nine and older. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to share this story with any child over about six, but only you know your child. Even though the story is about a girl, there is plenty of boy humor.

Don't miss out on the Zorgamazoo website for samples and drawings and more about the book and Robert Weston's blog for more about the author. Zorgamazoo won The Silver Birch Award and an E.B. White Read Aloud Honor award.

Zorgamazoo at an Indie

Zorgamazoo at Powell's

Zorgamazoo at Book Depository
For the audio edition click on the links in the sidebar
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Published by Penguin Group / Razorbill, 2010
ISBN-13: 9781595142955
YTD: 101
Source: Review (see review policy)
Rating: A
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

This review will also be linked at Julie's blog Booking Mama: "Every Saturday, [she hosts] a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books."