Enough!’ thundered Noah. He bolted the door.
‘This Ark is JAM PACKED!’ he said, but…there were more.
He studied the view of the animal queue and called to a friend of his, Sam Jam Balu.
‘Sam,’ he said kindly, ‘you’ve nothing to do and I really need help with this two-by-two zoo. My problems are solved if you’re quick off the mark – you can take all the rest in my second-best Ark.’
When there is no more room in the ark, Noah calls on his friend Sam to take the rest on another ark. While Noah sails off with his regular animals, Sam begins to load his ark with the animals too exotic to join Noah. And exotic is almost too moderate a word – there are camels with candy-stripes and four humps, mad kangaroosters, flying flapdoodles and blunderbuss dragons.
Sam works hard to accomodate this motley assortment on the second ark but, in the end, takes so long, that the ark is firmly stuck because the floods have already receded.
The Other Ark is a colourful rhyming tale which will appeal to young fans of the talented Lynley Dodd. Although the story is not perhaps as well-constructed as Dodd’s other works – especially the lovable Hairy Maclary titles – the illustrations and simply ridiculous nature of the various beasts being loaded onto the ark ensure that it will be a hit with littlies.
A fun fantasy.
The Other Ark, by Lynley Dodd
ABC Books, 2004