Friendly Owl (cameo; one-shot character; unlisted in credits)
Summary
A is for Armadillo, but where are the rest of the animals in the ABC Book? They're all missing! It's up to Dora and Boots to jump into the giant alphabet book and help the little armadillo solve the mystery! They ride up the elevator at "E" and slide down a Slippery Slide at "S". When they unzip "Z", all the animals happily come tumbling out; it's a surprise party for Armadillo, as the guest of honor!
Plot
The episode begins with Dora and Boots in front of a giant ABC book. They sing the ABC song for fun. Afterward, an armadillo emerges from the book and explains to Dora and Boots that all the animals are not in their corresponding letter pages. They enter the book and start at the "A" page, where they find some apples, an airplane, and an apron. Armadillo shows them where he lives but points out that his friend, the ant, is missing. "Yeah, look! The ant is gone!" Boots agrees. Armadillo also mentions that none of the other animals are at their letters either, and he's all alone. It's a mystery! So, Dora, Boots, and Armadillo embark on a quest to locate the missing animals.
First, they consult Map to find out where to go, and he tells them all the animals are at the letter "Z." To get there, they have to go up an elevator shaped like the letter "E" and down a slippery slide shaped like the letter "S." Dora, Boots, and Armadillo are ready to solve the mystery.
They fly on Avión the airplane from "A" to "E." They fly over the letter "B," Boots's favorite letter because it's the first letter in his name, as well as in "banana" and Backpack's name. There are also a bicycle, a bunch of bananas, a ball, and a bush. A bear is missing at "B." They then find the letter "C," where Armadillo sees a car, a camera, a couch, and a castle. They discover that a cat is missing at "C." Next, they pass the first letter in Dora's name, "D," where she sees a drum, a door, and a doll, and a dog is missing at "D."
After the ride, they find the letter "E," where there are eyeglasses, eggs, and an easel. They then realize an elephant is missing at "E." They enter the elevator, and Armadillo wonders how they're going to get it to move. They need to push the lever to activate the elevator. With the viewer's help, they push the lever by saying the Spanish word, "¡Empuje!" strong enough that the elevator moves as they reach the top of a hill. Now they have to go to the Slippery Slide shaped like the letter "S."
Along the way, they see a frog missing at "F". They ride in a firetruck at "F" all the way to "I". There was a giraffe missing at "G", a horse missing at "H", and an iguana missing at "I". After riding the firetruck, they found a jaguar missing at "J". A kite flies over causing Dora, Boots, and Armadillo another ride. They fly it from J thru O. They saw a kangaroo missing at "K", a lion missing at "L", a mouse missing at "M", and a nightingale missing at "N". They saw a net in the way. They bump into it and slide down a slide shaped like the letter O to solid ground. They found an octopus missing at "O", a pig missing at "P", a quetzal missing at "Q", and a rhinoceros missing at "R". They reached the Slippery Slide and saw a snake missing at "S". They have to climb stairs to get to the slide. All of a sudden, they hear a sneaky fox whose name starts with S. They noticed that Swiper's name starts with S. Swiper swiped the stairs and tossed them far away. He tells the viewer that he hid the stairs behind something that starts with "S". Dora, Boots, and Armadillo found the stairs behind a sled. There are 7 stairs. With that done, they climb up the slide, slide down, and land on a mud puddle.
So far, Dora, Boots, and Armadillo went up the elevator and slid down the slide. They were getting close to solving the mystery of where all the animals are hidden. The rode a train from "T" all the way to "Z". They saw a turtle missing at "T", an umbrella bird missing at "U", a vulture missing at "V", a whale missing at "W", an X-Ray fish missing at "X", and a yak missing at "Y". After the train ride, they found a zebra missing at "Z". All the animals were in the Z. Dora, Boots and Armadillo unzip it and all the animals came out. It was then revealed the animals got together at "Z" to throw a surprise thank-you party for Armadillo as the guest of honor because he is such a good friend to them. The episode ends with everyone singing the Animal Alphabet Song.
The scene where the alphabet book opens up was used in the song "Noggin is now Nick Jr.".
It is unknown how Swiper and the Fiesta Trio got in the giant ABC book.
Just like with The Super Silly Fiesta, the Fiesta Trio play their extended fanfare right after Dora and Boots shout "We Did It!" instead of before that.
This is the second episode where Swiper tells the viewer where he hid the item he swiped, first being Little Star, except he just gave a clue and not the actual location where he hid it.
This is also the third episode where Swiper admits that he swiped the item after the first said episode above and The Missing Piece.
Benny, Isa, and Tico don't appear in this episode.
This is the 74th episode of the show.
Not only is S a slide, but O is also a slide that Dora, Boots, and Armadillo slide down. It is also seen from afar when looking for the S slide.
This is the sixth episode where Backpack was not checked. However, she did appear as Boots talked about words that start with B, like Boots' name, banana, and Backpack said "...and Backpack!".
This is one of few episodes where Map stands on the bottom left of the picture map instead of the top left. The others are Beaches (second time at the sand dunes), Rescue, Rescue, Rescue!, and To the South Pole. It will happen one more time in Catch the Babies.
This is the second time Dora and Boots jumped into a giant book, the first being Dora Had a Little Lamb.
Unlike all other episodes when Dora and Boots jumped into books, the background for the ABC book uses the more generic art style for the show instead of the more artsy, abstract, and brighter-colored designs like most other books.
It is unknown how the kite appeared when Boots saw it flying by.
Ant and Jaguar are the only animals not shouted by Dora, Boots, and Armadillo. However, Dora is the only one shouting out "Jaguar!".
This is the first episode to introduce Armadillo, but it is purple. In some episodes such as The Magic Stick, Click!, and Whose Birthday is It?, there is an armadillo who looks identical to the one in this episode, but it is yellow.
If one looks closely at the newspaper at the letter N, there is a picture of Boots on it.
This is the final episode in which Dora puts her arms down after asking the viewer what their favorite part was during the Favorite Parts segment. Beginning with the next, she will always raise or outstretch one or both arms and keep them that way while waiting for the viewer's response up until she says, "I liked that, too!".
In this episode, the question "Where are the missing animals?" is used instead of "What's the quickest way to "Z"?".
In the map segment, the locations appear from top to bottom instead of bottom to top.
"Zip, zip, zip, surprise!" means "Hip, hip, hip, hooray!".
When the Zebra says, "It's a party for Armadillo!", what he means is "Happy birthday, Armadillo!".
This is not to be confused with Barney's ABC Animals from Let's Play School.
Goofs/Errors
When Dora was listing the words that start with I, she skipped "ice skates".
During the Map segment, Map's shadow is detached from him, making him look like he's floating. Also, when Map says "And that's how you'll get to "Z"!" his eyebrows briefly disappear.
The rainbow in the ABC Book did not have a red, indigo, or purple stripe, three colors that rainbows also have in real life.
There was an owl (La Lechuza) at the zipper on the Z, but later in the party, the owl is gone.
Most of the items' names are in the Arial Rounded font. But at the letter S, the items' names are in the non-rounded Arial font.
Some descriptions of this episode say that Dora, Boots, and Armadillo jumped over jelly when they were at J, but nowhere in the episode involves them jumping over jelly.
When Dora, Boots, and Armadillo slide down the slide, they land in a mud puddle, but their shoes (and Armadillo) did not get dirty and it is unknown how because in real life, one's shoes would get dirty if he/she splashes in a mud puddle with shoes on (although here it may not apply due to cartoon logic).
Also, after sliding down the slide and landing in a mud puddle, the mud looked like something that starts with the letter S that kids shouldn't be saying.
When Dora, Boots, and Armadillo are looking for the Z, there were no train tracks, but when they ride on the train, the train tracks appear.
The letters appear to be placed together in a line, but when Dora, Boots, and Armadillo traverse them, the letters were farther apart.
The Umbrella Bird looks nothing like an umbrella bird in real life, it looks like a parrot, however this could be an umbrella cockatoo.
In real life, the Octopus, Whale, and X-ray fish would die if they were out of the ocean for a long time.
It is unknown how Dora and Boots got out of the book. It is possible that they jumped out of the book offscreen before they talked about their favorite parts.
This also occurs in Dora Had a Little Lamb, another episode where they jump into a giant book.
When the animals are moving around inside the Z, monkey sounds can be heard, when there are no monkeys inside it when they arrive. Also, during Map's segment, the animals sound loud, but when Dora, Boots, and Armadillo arrive at the Z, they sound quiet.
Judging by the look of the Z-zipper, there doesn't seem to be any air getting in. In real life, the animals would die if they couldn't breathe inside an enclosed area. Unless, of course, the animals opened the zipper occasionally to let some air in so they can breathe but then went back inside so as not to spoil the surprise party.
It's unknown how all the animals fit in the zipper when the letter looks a lot smaller than most of the animals.
The elephant’s silhouette has visible tusks, something that the elephant seen later in the episode doesn’t have.
Dora says, "What animal is missing that starts with (any letter but A)?", but only for the last 25 letters.
In the French version of this episode, Swiper was said instead of Chipeur.
During the "We Did It!" song when Dora saids "We went up the elevator and down the slide.", one of the balloons changes from yellow to red when it falls on the ground.