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The Last Zookeeper
A master of the wordless form imagines a futuristic Noah’s Ark in a luminous sci-fi parable for our changing world.
The Earth has flooded. The only signs of humankind are the waterlogged structures they left behind. Peeking out from the deluge are the remnants of a zoo, home to rare and endangered animals, survivors of long neglect. Tender-hearted NOA is a construction robot who’s found new purpose as the caretaker of the zoo’s beleaguered inhabitants. Bracing for the next storm, NOA builds an ark from the wreckage in search of new land and a new home, only to discover something even more profound. With boundless compassion and sweeping scenes of sea and sky punctuated by detailed wordless panels to pore over, Caldecott Honor–winning creator Aaron Becker delivers a timely and concrete message about the rewards of caring in even the most difficult of times that is sure to inspire the dreamers among us.
The Earth has flooded. The only signs of humankind are the waterlogged structures they left behind. Peeking out from the deluge are the remnants of a zoo, home to rare and endangered animals, survivors of long neglect. Tender-hearted NOA is a construction robot who’s found new purpose as the caretaker of the zoo’s beleaguered inhabitants. Bracing for the next storm, NOA builds an ark from the wreckage in search of new land and a new home, only to discover something even more profound. With boundless compassion and sweeping scenes of sea and sky punctuated by detailed wordless panels to pore over, Caldecott Honor–winning creator Aaron Becker delivers a timely and concrete message about the rewards of caring in even the most difficult of times that is sure to inspire the dreamers among us.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published March 26, 2024
About the author
Aaron Becker
17 books373 followersAaron Becker has worked as an artist for such film studios as Lucasfilm, Disney, and Pixar, where he helped define the look and feel of characters, stories, and the movies they become a part of. With Journey, he has created characters and worlds of his very own, using traditional materials and techniques. Aaron Becker lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with his wife, daughter, and cat. This is his first book.
"I’ve made several memorable journeys in my lifetime. I’ve lived in rural Japan and East Africa and backpacked through the South Pacific and Sweden. But to this day, my favorite destination remains my imagination, where you can often find me drawing secret doorways and magic lanterns." — Aaron Becker
"I’ve made several memorable journeys in my lifetime. I’ve lived in rural Japan and East Africa and backpacked through the South Pacific and Sweden. But to this day, my favorite destination remains my imagination, where you can often find me drawing secret doorways and magic lanterns." — Aaron Becker
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
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December 27, 2023Aaron Becker never ceases to amaze me. I love to pour over the details in his artwork and savor the story he is telling-all through art as this is another masterful wordless picture book from Becker. His books are beautiful and powerful and I often need to sit with them after I read them, think about them, and then read them again. This one is no exception. A lovely story of animals, conservation, healing and hope.
April 8, 2024
I’m not entirely sure what I just read but I loved it just the same.
February 17, 2024
EARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
I love a good wordless book, and Aaron Becker does not disappoint. I am looking forward to sharing this with students- there will be so much to talk about after the story has been “read”. This is a must purchase!
I love a good wordless book, and Aaron Becker does not disappoint. I am looking forward to sharing this with students- there will be so much to talk about after the story has been “read”. This is a must purchase!
March 23, 2024
I'm sure I'm not only the one who wonders who will save humanity or the planet if humanity cannot save itself. Perhaps the answer can be found here in an unlikely form. Then again, perhaps not. Maybe humanity is beyond saving and will only destroy the world once again, given the chance. In this luminous and enlightening wordless picture book, loosely inspired by the classic Biblical Noah's ark story, the earth has flooded, and cities are almost completely drowned. There are no humans to be found, but there are still animals seeking shelter atop buildings and on higher ground. NOA, a large robot responsible for building seawalls to protect the city, stumbles upon several animals left behind in a zoo. Readers can measure his size by comparing it to the tigers and elephants he feeds since they look like toys compared to NOA. As the waters continue to rise and another storm approaches, he constructs a large vessel and boards as many animals as he possibly can. The sea bounds the boat relentlessly as shown in one moving double-page spread, but the ship crashes into a small island. The rescued animals are safe, but not for long, given the size of the island. From out of the sky comes rescue in the form of another robot with a hot air balloon. Together, they help the animals climb into the basket and fly off to a much larger island where the animals can find food and shelter. As always with this author/illustrator, readers must read between the lines or pages, in this case, and even take in the endpapers in order to understand what's happened. The illustrations, created with watercolor, pen, and ink, fill each page with intricate images and an atmospheric, futuristic setting that just might be closer than we think. Those that doubt that a machine or a robot could have a heart or experience emotions may change their minds after reading this story. The importance of caring about others and helping them, a concept stated clearly in the book's epigram from Jane Goodall, is explored on each page.
April 11, 2024
I knew I liked this books art before I knew it existed: I saw a trade journal whose cover depicted a giant robot shaking out a net of fish to feed some tigers and I just loved it; but, sadly, I didn't see a source for the art and assumed that I never would. However, recently I read The Tree and the River which inspired me to look into other Becker works and when I found this one I instantly recognized it as the source of that picture.
Sadly, I don't feel like the book is quite as good as the art. Becker has a well deserved reputation for wordless storytelling. But that requires both good art and an interesting sequence of events to be depicted. This book has the art, but I just don't feel much from the story it tells; I think it feels too generic and predictable. This of course isn't to bash this book, just making sense of what I felt about it.
Sadly, I don't feel like the book is quite as good as the art. Becker has a well deserved reputation for wordless storytelling. But that requires both good art and an interesting sequence of events to be depicted. This book has the art, but I just don't feel much from the story it tells; I think it feels too generic and predictable. This of course isn't to bash this book, just making sense of what I felt about it.
April 19, 2024
I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that this is a Noahs’ Ark retelling. But told in a way that makes it incredibly pertinent and poignant for the times we live in. Clearly, it is situated in a possible future. The colour tones create an impression of the catastrophe that has befallen. The waters have risen and there is no sign of human life to be found. What is left are the animals, abandoned to their fate by accident or design (we just don’t know.) And NOA; a robot. NOA does not blindly follow some input direction to care for the animals. NOA has to think…to seek out…to find an answer that will allow them to continue. Without language to explain what is happening or what is being experienced, we sense NOAs’ mood by reading body language. This is very effective in helping us along in the story. By posture and colour tone, we can read his, dare I say, feelings; his pensiveness, thoughtfulness, frustration and resolution. The care and concern for is animal charges is palpable. Each panel is filled with incredible detail. time and again, you will notice something different; something new. The beat of the waves; the peppering of too-small islands as they make their way across the waters; the patterns in the stars; the shifting of the clouds; the little surprises along the journey. The subtle changes in the colour palette reflect the time that passes and throughout, there is a building sense of endurance and hope. It is all just beautiful, evocative and filled with wonder. And of course, there is resolution…one that fills us with a sense of wonder, responsibility, relief and a quiet, satisfied joy. A picture book for all generations.
April 4, 2024
The world is flooded and a robot finds himself alone and without a purpose. He finds new meaning in taking care of and feeding the last animals at a saturated zoo. Waters ever increasing, he sets sail to nowhere and everywhere with his animals in tow and finds hope along the way.
Can a wordless book make me cry? It can if it is by Aaron Becker, the artist who straddles the anxiety of the unknown and the guidance of the things/people/nature around you to create hope in its wake. His storytelling in watercolors blends a dystopian future with our innate compassion and a vignette about a potentially flooded Earth, while seemingly desperate and lonely, he turns into a warm hug. I don’t know how they’re going to ignore this story and this artwork for the Caldecott, for the medal or as an honor book. This title is timely and captivating.
Can a wordless book make me cry? It can if it is by Aaron Becker, the artist who straddles the anxiety of the unknown and the guidance of the things/people/nature around you to create hope in its wake. His storytelling in watercolors blends a dystopian future with our innate compassion and a vignette about a potentially flooded Earth, while seemingly desperate and lonely, he turns into a warm hug. I don’t know how they’re going to ignore this story and this artwork for the Caldecott, for the medal or as an honor book. This title is timely and captivating.
January 1, 2024
One of the most hauntingly beautiful books of 2023 is Aaron Becker’s The Tree and the River.
Now, of course, I’m going to take the opportunity to read what he has to offer in 2024 with The Last Zookeeper. What has proven true before in his work, remains so: Aaron Becker has one-upped himself. I may have actually cried reading this one.
The opening quote by Jane Goodall is a key, and are the only words other than the usual title page and colophon business:
Only if we understand, can we care.
Only if we care, will we help.
Only if we help, shall all be saved.
We see a world where the water levels have risen—are still rising—and a zoo that this has devastated. We see a gigantic robot traversing the remains to care for the marooned zoo animals. It is all in a day’s work for this zookeeper before it heads home. As with much of Becker’s work, it takes more than one read to take it all in, unless you really take your time. For me, the aloneness was apparent on the first pass; it deepened when I noted the portraits hanging in his residence. The aloneness but also possibility.
In Becker’s robotic wonder, you observe a thinking, emotional creation and we only continue an empathic connection as the story continues. You hope and worry with the last zookeeper; you hold your breath and cross your fingers as it crosses stormy waters with an ark of desperate creatures. Will they find higher ground? What will become of them?
I love the feature that is the robot protagonist; and especially in light of the Goodall quote. What or whom can be made to understand? Becker offers his imagination of a future of climate devastation. He offers an illustration of what isolation, overwhelm, courage against terrible odds—of a migration from a no-longer tenable home looks and feels like…
The zoo animals are innocent; (already previously dislocated/relocated?) and reliant on their keeper. Noticeably absent is any human—what remains is the results of their likely existence (the zoo, the technology, the devastation).
Those familiar with the Bible’s Noah’s Ark story will catch the echoes: the symbol on the zookeeper’s belly and the acronym on its arm, the ship of creatures, the flood, and the rainbow. Is this Becker adding to the corpus of Flood stories; of reminding us of cataclysmic events that have become mythic in scope, but were ultimately survivable (by some)? The scope of this 40 page book in both visual scale, sheer geography, and depth of meaning is breathtaking. The hand isn’t heavy here, but it feels more urgent than The River and the Tree. We need to understand, so we can care, so we can help, so we can be saved.
Thank you Edelweiss+ and Candlewick for the eARC
Now, of course, I’m going to take the opportunity to read what he has to offer in 2024 with The Last Zookeeper. What has proven true before in his work, remains so: Aaron Becker has one-upped himself. I may have actually cried reading this one.
The opening quote by Jane Goodall is a key, and are the only words other than the usual title page and colophon business:
Only if we understand, can we care.
Only if we care, will we help.
Only if we help, shall all be saved.
We see a world where the water levels have risen—are still rising—and a zoo that this has devastated. We see a gigantic robot traversing the remains to care for the marooned zoo animals. It is all in a day’s work for this zookeeper before it heads home. As with much of Becker’s work, it takes more than one read to take it all in, unless you really take your time. For me, the aloneness was apparent on the first pass; it deepened when I noted the portraits hanging in his residence. The aloneness but also possibility.
In Becker’s robotic wonder, you observe a thinking, emotional creation and we only continue an empathic connection as the story continues. You hope and worry with the last zookeeper; you hold your breath and cross your fingers as it crosses stormy waters with an ark of desperate creatures. Will they find higher ground? What will become of them?
I love the feature that is the robot protagonist; and especially in light of the Goodall quote. What or whom can be made to understand? Becker offers his imagination of a future of climate devastation. He offers an illustration of what isolation, overwhelm, courage against terrible odds—of a migration from a no-longer tenable home looks and feels like…
The zoo animals are innocent; (already previously dislocated/relocated?) and reliant on their keeper. Noticeably absent is any human—what remains is the results of their likely existence (the zoo, the technology, the devastation).
Those familiar with the Bible’s Noah’s Ark story will catch the echoes: the symbol on the zookeeper’s belly and the acronym on its arm, the ship of creatures, the flood, and the rainbow. Is this Becker adding to the corpus of Flood stories; of reminding us of cataclysmic events that have become mythic in scope, but were ultimately survivable (by some)? The scope of this 40 page book in both visual scale, sheer geography, and depth of meaning is breathtaking. The hand isn’t heavy here, but it feels more urgent than The River and the Tree. We need to understand, so we can care, so we can help, so we can be saved.
Thank you Edelweiss+ and Candlewick for the eARC
March 31, 2024
2 stars (it was okay)
I'm in the minority here...
I thought the illustrations were really beautiful but I just didn't really connect with the story.
A Wall-E type robot named NOA is taking care of the abandoned zoo animals after the world is flooded. He tries to a new safe place for them.
I see other reviews saying the book is uplifting but it just felt sad to me. I was also really concerned for the tigers that were always in a tiny cage while the rest of the animals were free roaming (it makes sense and all since they are the only carnivores shown but I still felt bad for them).
I'm in the minority here...
I thought the illustrations were really beautiful but I just didn't really connect with the story.
A Wall-E type robot named NOA is taking care of the abandoned zoo animals after the world is flooded. He tries to a new safe place for them.
I see other reviews saying the book is uplifting but it just felt sad to me. I was also really concerned for the tigers that were always in a tiny cage while the rest of the animals were free roaming (it makes sense and all since they are the only carnivores shown but I still felt bad for them).
April 3, 2024
The Journey Trilogy are some of my favorite wordless picture books and this book has joined that list of favs. As with The Journey books, Becker has created a rich world that hints at much deeper stories, this book has a satisfying ending, but the world he created is one that I would love to explore more.
Because of the detail and format of the pictures, I think this would work best as a one-on-one title, and since it's wordless, maybe you could have your little one be the first to "read" it to you, rather than the other way around.
Because of the detail and format of the pictures, I think this would work best as a one-on-one title, and since it's wordless, maybe you could have your little one be the first to "read" it to you, rather than the other way around.
February 1, 2024
Wordless Picture Book
I received an electronic ARC from Candlewick through Edelweiss+
Becker captures what happens when the earth floods and the only one left to save animals is a robot built to rescue. Readers follow the journey as the yellow robot rescues animals from floodwaters, pockets of land, and building tops. I love when they find another robot who helps save the animals and brings everyone to a safe location. The artwork is stunning and makes the story clear. A powerful story to make readers think about the environment.
I received an electronic ARC from Candlewick through Edelweiss+
Becker captures what happens when the earth floods and the only one left to save animals is a robot built to rescue. Readers follow the journey as the yellow robot rescues animals from floodwaters, pockets of land, and building tops. I love when they find another robot who helps save the animals and brings everyone to a safe location. The artwork is stunning and makes the story clear. A powerful story to make readers think about the environment.
March 25, 2024
I received an ARC of this book for my honest opinion.
I am not really into wordless books, but this one is a keeper. We follow a robot taking care of the last animals in a flooded world and is becoming increasingly flooded. Can it save its animals from the rising tides? This is a beautiful book about robots and environmentalism with a touch of religion and Noah's Ark. The illustrations are beautiful and moving in their simplicity, telling us a story of loss and hope. A really wonderful book for our ever-changing world.
I am not really into wordless books, but this one is a keeper. We follow a robot taking care of the last animals in a flooded world and is becoming increasingly flooded. Can it save its animals from the rising tides? This is a beautiful book about robots and environmentalism with a touch of religion and Noah's Ark. The illustrations are beautiful and moving in their simplicity, telling us a story of loss and hope. A really wonderful book for our ever-changing world.
April 17, 2024
The watercolors are gorgeous. The "ark" which the robot builds is more a ship than an ark. On an ark, the animals would be completely enclosed inside the vessel, not standing on the deck, where they could be washed overboard in a storm.
The flood in this book looks like a pretty shallow, gentle flood; not like the flood of Genesis, which ripped a single continent into several continents, and completely reformed the surface of the earth and brought a complete climate change to that early earth.
The flood in this book looks like a pretty shallow, gentle flood; not like the flood of Genesis, which ripped a single continent into several continents, and completely reformed the surface of the earth and brought a complete climate change to that early earth.
November 29, 2023
Thank you to Edelweiss and Candlewick Press for early access to this book.
Really beautiful! A somewhat sad story with a hopeful, uplifting ending. A true cautionary tale. The illustrations are gorgeous! This is a great book for all kids - those who are just learning to read will understand the illustrations, and older kids will see the message of the book beyond the simple story. A good one for parents as well. Highly Recommended.
Really beautiful! A somewhat sad story with a hopeful, uplifting ending. A true cautionary tale. The illustrations are gorgeous! This is a great book for all kids - those who are just learning to read will understand the illustrations, and older kids will see the message of the book beyond the simple story. A good one for parents as well. Highly Recommended.
March 12, 2024
This is a wordless picture book that tells the story of a futuristic Noah’s Ark. In this book the pictures walk readers through the flooded land guided by a robot. The robot gathers the animals left on the land, builds an ark and embarks on a new future. This is a perfect book for young children who love great pictures.
March 28, 2024
👦🏻 reviews: it is Wall-e with inspiring story. It is such a cute wordless book with moral lessons about what our world should have been. The illustrations are so easy to follow and very vibrant and engaging.
Thank you @candlewickpress for this free and gifted book with no obligation to review, but we simply wanted to share this book.
Thank you @candlewickpress for this free and gifted book with no obligation to review, but we simply wanted to share this book.
March 16, 2024
This book is probably intended for upper preschool or kindergarten as there’s no words. A parent is going to really have to be good as explaining pictures and a kid is really gonna have to be able to analyze.
This also was essentially Noah’s Ark meet WALL·E.
This also was essentially Noah’s Ark meet WALL·E.
April 3, 2024
Beautiful wordless book that begins with a Jane Goodall quote that repeatedly takes my breath away:
“Only if we understand, can we care.
Only if we care, will we help.
Only if we help, shall all be saved.”
“Only if we understand, can we care.
Only if we care, will we help.
Only if we help, shall all be saved.”
April 9, 2024
The book was fine. It was a bit short and I wouldn't have understood what was going on if I didn't read the description. It was cute, but it didn't strike me as very creative to make it stand out among others like it.
April 10, 2024
Gorgeous detailed illustrations tell the wordless story in Aaron Becker style. There is a bit of hope but this may be one of the saddest books I've read recently. I came away from it even more depressed about the world's future.
April 10, 2024
(This book is wordless so this is my interp): NOA, a robot with a wind turbine, is trying to save some parts of the world that are flooding catastrophically. He focuses mostly on moving animals to safety. The illustrations are hauntingly beautiful.
April 12, 2024
Oh Yes! A joyful post apocalyptic (post human?) world! Love the gorgeously illustrated Noah’s Ark and Adam & Eve themes. But maybe this time the robots won’t reproduce and then produce to the point of another mass extinction, like humans did? I’m all in on this one.
April 19, 2024
A wordless picture book about a giant robot called NOA who is rescuing animals from a devastating flood in the not-so-distance future. The gorgeous illustrations, the amazing world building, and the hopeful rainbow ending make this a must-read picture book for all ages!
April 19, 2024
Freaking love this sci-fi, futuristic, wordless take on Noah's ark. Come at me if you agree. THE ANIMALS IN THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE TWO BY TWO PEOPLE!
This book is getting added to my personal collection.
This book is getting added to my personal collection.
August 12, 2023
I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss.
March 11, 2024
This wan another fanfic of Gwyn and Azriel. Title: Last Christmas Ut was toooo cute!!!
March 13, 2024
Brilliant art work, as those familiar with his work have come to expect.
March 27, 2024
Great book for Earth Day discussions.
March 27, 2024
Gorgeous illustrations. Heartbreaking, but hopeful story.
March 31, 2024
Aaron Becker has a gift for bringing beauty into his artwork while taking us on unlikely but thought-provoking adventures
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews