I made the mistake of starting this right before the holiday season and, since there was no way I could focus on it during the craziness, I had to put it down for awhile. At first I was afraid I had lost some of the rhythm of the story, but luckily, when I picked it back up, I was able to become just as wonderfully lost in the second half of the story as the first.

The story of the Warsaw Zoo and its crazy guests, both animal and human, is unlike any other WWII story I have ever read. The incidents of the animal and human guests go from comical to horrifying within the same page, and all will, I believe, prove to be memorable characters. The zookeeper's wife, Antonina, was especially inspiration, and Diane Ackerman's insight into the natural world gave the story a unique look that I don't think a simple historian could have given it. Who knew that the Nazis were such strange environmentalists? Or that the very same people who ordered the deaths of so many people were concerned about causing too much pain in earthworms?

If you're looking for a slightly more unique look at WWII, read this book.