WALTER WARTHOG: The Warthog Who Moved In

by Betty Leslie-Melville ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1989

Like the author's Daisy Rothschild (1987), which was about another endangered species that she is endeavoring to protect through The African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (of which she is a founder), an entertaining account of experiences with wild animals in her own Kenyan front yard. Warthogs can be very dangerous; but when Walter shows up, the author tries feeding him and has soon made a lifelong friend who learns to come for help when he gets caught in yet another cruel snare and even, astonishingly, brings his mate and young to the household. Later, he cares for the young after the mate's untimely death to poachers--to whom he in his turn eventually succumbs, his unusual intelligence the victim of greed, his coveted tusks ""becom[ing] bottle-opener handles."" The author's style may be choppy and awkward, yet it is ingenuously childlike, while her narrative makes clear the significance of the well-selected details she includes. Poachers are her villains; there is no mention of the effect of population pressures or the environment on wildlife; and she concludes with a direct plea for funds to her own institution-with an invitation to her home for safari-goers who make a contribution. Still, in both text and beguiling color photos, this is appealing, firsthand information.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1989

Categories: CHILDREN'S