Every once in a while I’ll go through the box of children’s books my mother saved for me. These were books I enjoyed and mom thought my children would, too. Hmmmm. When I look at these books I’m reminded of how very much children’s literature has changed - for the better. Many authors are not only entertaining but enlightening, tackling serious subjects to build young people’s awareness of the world in which they live.
Case in point is the gorgeously illustrated CAN WE SAVE THE TIGER? by conservationist Martin Jenkins, a consultant for the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. He introduces us to some of the world’s most endangered species as well as presenting important reasons for trying to save them.
As Jenkins notes the world is a big place “But it’s not that big, when you consider how much there is to squeeze into it.” Billions of people inhabit it as well as untold numbers of other kinds of living things. And, through the years we have changed our world “turned forests into farmlands, dammed rivers, built towns.” While some of the plants and animals with whom we share the world have coped with these changes quite well, others have not and have become extinct.
Most know we’ll never see a live dodo “or a Steller’s sea cow, or a marsupial wolf, or a great auk,” but what about the tigers? Today there are fewer than 2,500 breeding adults in the world. What about ground iguanas, sawfishes, albatrosses?
Jenkins is quick to note that sometimes we have done the right thing and saved animals just before they became extinct. Among these are the American bison, the white rhinoceros vicuna, and Antarctic fur seal. In this way he allows young readers to understand that something can be done.
Vicky White’s incredibly beautiful illustrations done in pencil and white paint are worthy of framing. She worked as a zookeeper for several years and brings not only perfection but love to her drawings.
Do yourself and your young ones a favor - read CAN WE SAVE THE TIGER? again and again.
Highly recommended.
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