Spitting image by James Roy

Lightning Strikes series. Walker Books, 2012. ISBN 9781921977497.
(Age: 11+) Recommended. High interest, low literacy. When Charlie and his sister, Helen are taken to the zoo for the day, they are most disappointed to find the zoo is a farm zoo, chosen mainly for their baby sister, not them. Dragging themselves around the farm looking at the sheep, the pigs, the alpacas and the milking demonstration is not quite what they bargained for. Helen takes many photos and decides to climb up on the alpaca's railing to get a better photo, so falling into its enclosure. The farmer tells them off, opening the gate for her, but she jumps the fence instead. Later, they see the alpaca out of its enclosure and try to help round it up to take it back home, lest they get into any more trouble with the farmer. There follows a very funny adventure trying to get the animal to do as they want, with an annoying younger child with a camera trailing them, and discovering there is more than one alpaca out of its enclosure.
All is neatly resolved however, and the reader will be doubly intrigued with the information gently included in the story. Another superior story within the Lightning Strikes series for those with less able literacy levels and those wanting a quick read, with a good story and well rounded characters.
Fran Knight