Dragons and Marshmallows

The Zoey and Sassafras series has been by far the most engaging and enjoyable chapter books that we have read together so far. It features a clever, independent young girl of color, her brilliant mother, her adorable cat, and many fantastical tales that combine and cultivate a whimsical imagination and a deep love and wonder for science and all the many ways that it interweaves itself into our daily life. The books encourage exploration of the natural world around us, but they also spark imaginative play, and, of course, teach many wonderful lessons along the way.In each book, Zoey performs at least one experiment that is easily replicated at home, almost always with items you would already have around your kitchen. It’s such a fun way to bring another level of immersion and learning to these fantastic books. It has been really neat for my child to see Zoey’s experiments in action.As of writing this, we have just finished book 4 out of 6 currently published in the series. Asia Citro’s books are so well written and enjoyable that I find myself absolutely treasuring our reading time together on a whole new level whenever Zoey and Sassafras are on our reading menu. Not only have I eagerly bought the whole set—one book at a time as we finished them off—but I’ve found that my child is extra eager to dive into chapter books now.Oh—and the illustrations are ADORABLE.I can not praise these books highly enough, and I am so relieved and excited to see that she is working on a 7th book to be released later this year.

I bought this book as a read aloud for my 3 year old to introduce her to chapter books! It has a super cute storyline that interests her and I can’t wait to continue reading it with her. We read 3 chapters the first night!

Encourages scientific inquiry in a fun way. Provides some science learning seamlessly woven into the story. Zoey is a wonderful and curious protagonist. The relationship between Zoey and her mom offers a valuable lesson—that making mistakes is okay, and that not giving up and trying again is even more important. My niece loved it.

I had been struggling to find a book series that really grabbed my 7 year old daughter’s attention, and then we found Zoey and Sassafras.She LOVES the characters, the mythical creatures, learning some real science, and having a blast expanding her vocabulary.I love that there is a glossary in the back of the book for the scientific terms introduced. My daughter enjoyed the first book so much that she asked for the entire series for her birthday and has started to explore reading for fun more.Everyone has that special book that ignited their love of reading, and this is the one that lit the spark for my daughter. I hope that encourages more people to buy it, such a fun read and we are excited that Zoey and Sassafras get to be a part of our reading journey as we make our way through the entire series. We just purchased the box set for her birthday coming up. 💛

Without wanting more than a nice book to read over zoom to my grandkids here in CA and Fla, I grabbed the Zoey and Sassafras series, cute stories about a girl and her cat. The content has been interesting enough to engage a boy and girl 3-4 years old and the 10 year old big boy. What I found in these books is a lot more. This book and the other series books are incidentally about a little GIRL of COLOR, in training about the SCIENTIFIC METHOD (and things magical) by her MOM, a SCIENTIST and a dad who has a scientific bent but not the magical. The books go through very educational experiments (and magical) showing scientific process and serious today issues about unwitting pollution, environmental change, helping others and diversity without jamming any of it down the throat. I was impressed. Education here, not indoctrination!

I read this aloud to my 5 year old daughter over the course of several nights. We both really enjoyed it! Zoey uses genuine scientific principles which is fantastic. The lonely thing I don’t like is that the day doesn’t see magical creatures. So Zoey and the mom don’t tell him about them. Personally, I don’t like teaching young kids to keep anything from their parents.

The student that this was bought for has been enjoying it.

I bought this book for my niece and read it before giving it to her. This is a really cute book and would be a great read aloud choice for a first or second grade classroom. It touches on the difference between cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals and also the difference between carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores. It has a little bit about the scientific method in there but not much.Although it throws in some science facts, mostly it is an entertaining book about a girl who can see magical creatures and helps a sick baby dragon. It show empathy and love for animals.I think it is a well-written story and like the fact that it has some educational elements thrown in. Definitely better than a lot of the "fluff" written for this age group.