A well-crafted story about a commitment to conservation.
A maverick environmentalist recounts saving nearly extinct animals in Australia.
In 2003, Australia’s prime minister named Wamsley Environmentalist of the Year. Wamsley’s memoir, one co-written with Davey, refreshingly touches on relevant portions of the environmentalist’s childhood and zeros in on what readers want to know: Who is this controversial environmentalist, and what was his impact on the preservation of endangered animals and plants? In excerpts from recorded interviews, Wamsley says: “I would gladly give my soul to the devil, to roast in hell for an eternity, if I could save one species of wildlife in exchange.” Davey makes cameo appearances in the story, describing the environmentalist as “unique and disciplined.” Wamsley’s radical work drew strong criticism. A segment of animal welfare activists vilified him as the “cat-hat man” after he wore a hat made of a large feral cat pelt to an award ceremony. The shock value drove his point home that feral cats and foxes posed an existential threat to certain marsupials (among them kangaroos, wallabies, platypus). The book explores the hot-button ethical issue of whether killing one species of animal to preserve another is justified. The co-authors feel strongly that it is, and Wamsley refers to the practice in scientific terms (prey switching) and notes that he “only shot one cat” in his lifetime. In 1969, Wamsley created Warrawong, an animal sanctuary. The author also protected the indigenous trees and plants in Australia’s natural habitats. To his surprise and delight, certain plants that produced a continuous supply of nectar attracted native birds year-round. Wamsley went on to establish a network of wildlife sanctuaries across Australia. The book includes period photographs and editorial cartoons from local newspapers.
A well-crafted story about a commitment to conservation.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5043-2292-8
Page Count: 214
Publisher: BalboaPressAU
Review Posted Online: April 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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