Zizzy

Penny Matthews (author)

Danny Snell (illustrations)

Omnibus Books for Scholastic, Australia: 2010

ISBN: 9781862917972

Genre: picture book

Issues: determination, dreams, hope

Zizzy, the baby sloth does what most sloths do - hangs around upside down in a tree slowly digesting leaves. Slow is, after all, what sloths do best. So when Zizzy sees a flash of blue through the roof of the rainforest, he wonders what it can be. A friendly bird offers to show him and Zizzy begins the long, slow journey. It would be easy to give up - sloths are not made for travel. But the blue is the colour of his dreams and calls to him. Will Zizzy ever find out what lies beyond the limits of his world?

 A simple story about the value of dreams and determination, Zizzy's greatest strength is the beautiful illustrations. Although Zizzy's fur lacks the usual algae (perhaps due to his youth), care has been taken to portray the awkward movements of a sloth on the ground, given an already strange creature a rather endearing clumsiness. Snell captures the dark, lush rainforest and its many unique creatures in evocative, detailed, acrylic paintings.