Led by the adventurous Peter the hedgehog, a group of zoo animals slip out of their cages one night, in order to take a ride on the giant Ferris Wheel that has just recently been built next door. As each animal ascends the giant wheel, they see their own home in the distance - Peter sees the small woodland village where his grandfather lived, Eska the polar bear sees the frozen North Pole, Victor the crocodile sees the sunny African river where he was born, Samuel the tiger sees the thick jungle, and Rudy the eagle sees the far mountains where he once flew - going round and round in a wonder-filled ride they will never forget. Leopold the zookeeper, in the meantime, notices the animals' absence and comes looking for them, hopping on the giant wheel himself, in order to gain a better vantage to search for them. As he sees a vista encompassing the entire world, and is overwhelmed by the experience, the animals sneak back to their homes at the zoo...

This picture-book collaboration between Russian children's author Andre Usatschow and German illustrator Alexandra Junge was originally published by North-South books as Das magische Riesenrad. It isn't clear to me if the story was originally written in Russian, and then translated into German, but The Giant Wheel is the second such co-production from Usatschow and Junge, who also contributed text and artwork to Little Ant, Big Thinker, or Where Does the Ocean End? I found the story interesting, if a but muddled - I think it is intended to be open-ended and dreamlike, but the result felt a little disjointed to me, particularly when Leopold sees the entire planet, during his own ride on the giant wheel. Perhaps readers are meant to think that, while animals hail from particular continents or areas of the planet, we humans are citizens of the globe? Still, I was glad to read the book, and appreciated the artwork. Having read and enjoyed Alexandra Junge's own picture-book, A Night-Time Tale, I was curious to see more of her work, and I was not disappointed. Sometimes sweet and sometimes surreal - I loved the two-page spread showing all the animals riding the giant wheel somewhere above the earth, with the stars in the background - the illustrations were a pleasure to peruse. Recommended primarily to young readers who enjoy animal stories, although fans of the artist will also find much that will appeal to them. ( )