Review of "Carnival of the Animals" by John Lithgow

Actor John Lithgow's second career as the bestselling author of children's books is taking off. He gives us the story of young Oliver Pendleton Percy The Third, whose class goes on a field trip to the Natural History Museum. A section of the museum marked "Under Repairs" catches Oliver's eye, and he wanders off on his own. Separated from his classmates, he gets trapped when the museum closes and he falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds that his freinds and teacher have changed into a bizarre collection of animals.

Illustrated by Boris Kulikov in a style that reminded me of "The Stalwart Tin Soldier" sequence in Disney's "Fantasia 2000", with an eerie, almost macabre tone, the story loses it's menace because its told in a rhyme. Your kids won't be able to be stop laughing.