Abstract

Zorgamazoo is a middle-grade fantasy adventure novel written in rhyming anapaestic tetrameter. It is the story of an adventurous girl named Katrina Katrell who teams up with a subterranean creature to uncover a conspiracy to kidnap all the Earth's mythical creatures. The format was partially inspired by research into dialogic reading and the relationship between fiction and empathy, particularly with respect to reluctant young readers. The novel is the winner of multiple awards in several countries, including the California Young Reader's Medal, the Silver Birch Award, an E.B. White Read Aloud Honour, and others. The English audiobook won Best Male Performance (for Alan Cumming) at the 2011 Audie Awards, while the translated German audiobook won Audio Book of the Year in that country.