This was an endearing book for children. My son isn't quite at the age range for this one yet but he loved the pictures and could even point and name out some of the critters we see on each page. The storyline was something that was very simple and exciting and I'd easily recommend these to parents as well as teachers in and around this age range.

I received this e-book free for a genuine review.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This is an excellent earlier reader book about the beloved Hippo Fiona.

Fiona and her friends at the zoo have been watching children visit the zoo regularly. Fiona asks her mother about school, and she and her young friends decide they would like to go to school as well. They start "Zoo School". When Mr. Elephant, their teacher, begins teaching about elephants, the students want to learn about other things. They start speaking out, sharing what they thing they should do and it becomes loud and chaotic. Mr. Owl intervenes and decides that the young students need to learn about proper school behaviour. He tells them how important it is to listen, raise your hand, take turns, respect others by letting them talk and share etc. The next day, things still don't turn out the way they hoped, until Fiona has a great idea. Everyone enjoys the new "zoo school". I liked the message about being a good student, especially being respectful to one another. My granddaughter (6 YO) was quite appalled at their behaviour and was able to tell me what Mme. would have done if she had acted that way. 😂The illustrations are wonderful. They are realistic for anthropomorphised animals. Their expressions show emotion, and my grandkids enjoyed seeing what the animals were up to on each page. The short sentences, with easy concepts and repeated words make this an easy book for beginning readers.

Fiona is adorable and children will relate to her. The Level 1 story has themes of school and love of learning - it does not talk down to children. Fiona and her Mama are in the pool at the zoo, and Fiona asks Mama why so many children are visiting. Fiona learns about school field trips and she is so intrigued about the idea of school, she is determined to begin a zoo school. Each resident of the zoo takes a turn teaching all the others. They all learn far more by cooperating with each other, and all are so excited about learning.

The illustrations are wonderful. A great read for preschool up through about second grade.

Like many families, my kids and I were introduced to Fiona during the pandemic when the Cincinnati Zoo live streamed videos starring Fiona the hippo, her Mama, her handlers, and her other animal friends. So I was delighted to receive an ARC of Fiona Goes to School to read with my kids. Overall, this is a cute story with lovely colorful illustrations. The artist captured Fiona’s adorableness and she shines on the page! With words like squeaking and chattering, though, and not too much repetition of words, I think many Level 1 readers will be discouraged trying to read this independently. Likewise, sometimes the flow seems off. The transition from Fiona is telling her Mama she wants to go to zoo school to when she’s overlooking the parking lot with her animal friends felt particularly disjointed and I had to double check to make sure I hadn’t skipped a page. Finally, while I thought the concept of the animals learning about raising hands was a cute addition, it might have been nice to throw in a few other animal facts into the “zoo school” section. I’m being very picky here though and I’m sure Fiona lovers will find the book as cute as we did.

Thanks to NetGalley and Zonderkidz for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another cute Fiona story. This time she learns what school is and knows she really wants to go. So, they create a zoo school and go about finding the best teachers.

This was such a cute story! We loved that they opened a zoo school and included all of the animals. My daughter loves reading about Fiona and her latest adventures. We look forward to more from this series.

Fiona the hippo is back in this easy reader. After an especially busy zoo day, where many school children visited, always curious Fiona hears about school and decides that the zoo animals should also go to school. After a few false starts, zoo school meets everyone's needs. With text designed for beginner readers and beautiful illustrations, this is a fun book to introduce a young child to what they can expect when they, too, go off to school.

Fiona Goes to School by Zondervan is very cute book about Fiona the hippo. Fiona sees children coming to the zoo on a field trip and asks his mother why the children come to the zoo. She said they come from the school to learn and Fiona says she wants to go to school. So they invent a school zoo.

Field trips to the zoo are almost a rite of passage for school kids. Fiona the hippo and her friends have been seeing these children and have decided that they want to go to school as well. So after the zoo closes for the day Mr. Elephant gathers the zoo animals for Zoo school.

Each of the students has an opinion on what should be taught and chaos ensues. In swoops wise Mr. Owl to restore order. The students quickly learn that to be a good student you must learn to listen, raise your hand (or paw), and be patient while waiting your turn.

This is another delightful addition to the line of Fiona books from Zonderkidz. This particular edition is a level one I Can Read! book that has short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts that engage your emerging reader.

I can't recommend this beginning reading book enough. We have loved all of the I Can Read! books from Zonderkidz. They have given the grandkids such a sense of accomplishment as they practice their new reading skills.

I received a copy of this book to facilitate my review.

Title: Fiona Goes to School

First off, thank you to netgalley, the publisher & the author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

I had my son who is 7 read this book to me. We enjoyed the story, the illustrations and loved hearing more stories about Fiona the hippo. We look forward to reading more!

This was such a cute book! My daughter is getting ready for pre-k, and this book got her so excited for school. Fun, with great illustrations. Recommend for all of the little animal lovers out there.

What a fun way to introduce school to young children! My youngest asks about school when his older siblings go and I love showing him how much Fiona loves to learn so he can begin his excitement for preschool!

We LOVE Fiona the Hippo, and we loved this adorable book about her and her zoo friends!! This is a such a cute book, with a great storyline and vibrant, beautiful illustrations. My three year old absolutely loved it. An easy to understand story perfect for little listeners and early readers. This is one k want to purchase! Overall, a wonderfully cute book that I recommend.

Thank you Zonderkids a digital copy of this book! This book is out now!!

💙 Mommy (@𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭.𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐦𝐨𝐦) and Ronan (@𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐤𝐢𝐝) approved ✅

I received an electronic ARC from Zonderkidz through NetGalley.
Fiona wants to go to school like all the children who visit the zoo. She shares with her friends and everyone decides to go to school too. They have difficulties on the first day but Barn Owl explains how school works. After that, they learn from a different animal each day so everyone is included.
Simple to read text for early readers. Great to read together as a family and perfect for elementary libraries.

We love Fiona! This is a great early reader book.

This book did a great job keeping the interest of my first grader. The plot is creative in creating a school for all of the animals at the zoo. From a reading level perspective, this book had a good amount of repetitive and early elementary sight words to helps new readers that aren't real confident yet.

As with many of the other Fiona books, the bright illustrations are fantastic! A lot of little ones are going to like this book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy of this lovely children's book for my honest review.

What a delightful book. The glossy pictures gave my grandson (just finished kindergarten) so much to devour with his eyes. Fiona is a hippo. The stories are centered around Fiona and her other animal friends. The Level One I Can Read designation meant that he could read ithe Fiona books on his own, using phonics and sounding it out. These books could also be read aloud to a beginning reader, allowing for the beginning reader to start recognizing and reading the words on their own. Many thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review. This review applies to both Fiona Goes to School and Fiona's Train Ride.

Very commendable early reader, targeted at those perhaps choosing their books for themselves for the first time. This is wonderfully illustrated, with the least words per page possible to get across the high drama a lot of zoo animals have when they decide to form a school for themselves. The Elephant is the first tutor, but all he wants to teach is how wonderful elephants are, so once a wise Owl intervenes they settle for a more U3A kind of thing, where those in the know teach what they know and everyone leads their specialised subject and no more. How egalitarian. Oh, but it finishes with everyone loving books, so sneakily or not the audience get perhaps the most important lesson of all. And it all looks absolutely world class.

This early reader is part of a series originating from the picture book Fiona the Hippo (Zonderkids, 2018) which told the true story of Fiona, a hippo born prematurely at the Cincninatti, OH Zoo in 2017. Fiona’s story became an internet sensation and led to several popular picture books, then this entry. This information is only relevant in that none of the fact-based backstory that made Fiona famous is present in this early reader (at least not in this NetGalley copy).

The publisher aims this early reader at Level 1, with this criteria: “short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts for children eager to read on their own.” The book does indeed have short sentences, with no more than 5-7 words per line and 3-5 lines of text per page. The text is always placed in the same spot on each page. The plot is appropriately simple: Fiona sees school children visiting her zoo and wants to go to school, so the zoo animals start one of their own. The narrative includes a gentle lesson about how to behave in a classroom (raise your hand, not everyone talks at once). However, the some of the vocabulary would not be familiar at the target age: “hooves”, “chattering”, “raising”, “squawking”, "respect" and abbreviations such as “Mr.” and “Mrs.” How would a child just starting to read on their own know that “Mr.” is pronounced “Mister”?

The Fiona in this book is a pleasant but unremarkable character. Perhaps like “Fancy Nancy”, this series would appeal to children who already know the character from picture books and when making the transition to reading independently, would benefit from the continuity of a familiar character. This Fiona has no distinguishing characteristics, she’s just “there”. I can accept that as the protagonist, Fiona has a name, but it’s odd that Kris the cheetah has a given name when none of the other animals do. They’re referred to as “monkey” or “giraffe”.

The strength of this book is the illustrations: rich tones with fine, expressive details. They do an adequate job of supporting the text and providing visual cues. I order early readers for my library and before I buy any in this series, I will interloan copies and read them myself to see if they’re more appealing than this average title.

I loooooove Fiona at the Cincinnati zoo and having her in book form was perfect! I’m going to be reading this to my cousins!