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PUMA CONCOLOR

Name: PUMA CONCOLOR
Author: René Araneda
ISBN: 9780802856609

IN SEARCH OF PATAGONIA’S WILD PUMAS

From the Spectacular STEAM for Curious Readers series

by René Araneda ; illustrated by Julio Antonio Blasco ; translated by Lawrence Schimel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2026

Affectionate and informative.

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In this work translated from Spanish, a filmmaker chronicles encounters with a puma and her kits over several years.

Illustrated not with stills from his 2019 documentary, as might be expected, but with lightly stylized graphic images based on photos of the felines in the wild with occasional glimpses of camera crews looking on, Araneda’s brief observations and reflections glow with love for nature and his animal subjects. Here he records ventures into Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park to document a mother puma he named Rupestre raising two litters of kits and teaching them hunting and survival skills—adding an amusing anecdote about what happened when one set of kits tackled a skunk. He also fills in background by praising the versatile animal’s ability to survive in multiple habitats through much of the Americas, offers pointers in how to tell males from females, and even includes a QR code linked to audio files of howls and other sounds. For all the big teeth on display, so appealing are Blasco’s frequent scenes of kits playing with their mom and one another that even glimpses of adult males fighting or prey being taken down and consumed are unlikely to disturb younger readers.

Affectionate and informative. (maps, bibliography, filmography) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026

ISBN: 9780802856609

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Eerdmans

Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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SAVING YASHA

THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF AN ADOPTED MOON BEAR

by Lia Kvatum & photographed by Liya Pokrovskaya ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 10, 2012

An affectionate picture of bears and bear scientists, capped with a page of moon bear facts and an afterword.

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Not one but three roly-poly moon bear cubs star in this true animal rescue tale.

Orphaned by poachers, Yasha, joined later by Shum and Shiksha, are nurtured by Pokrovskaya and another scientist for nearly two years on a game preserve until they were ready to be released into the Siberian wild. Taking a slightly anthropomorphized bear’s-eye point of view (“Yasha was happy with his new home”), Kvatum chronicles the cubs’ development as they learn to forage on their own while playing together and learning to climb trees. She also notes how important it is for human observers to remain aloof—minimizing physical contact and even wearing scent-concealing clothing—to prevent the animals from becoming dependent or domesticated. Looking positively fetching in the big, color photos, shaggy Yasha and his ursine cohorts grow visibly as they ramble through woodsy settings, splash in a river and survive an encounter with a prowling tiger before being deemed ready to live on their own.

An affectionate picture of bears and bear scientists, capped with a page of moon bear facts and an afterword. (map, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: July 10, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-4263-1051-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: National Geographic

Review Posted Online: May 15, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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RODENT RASCALS

by Roxie Munro ; illustrated by Roxie Munro ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2018

“Humans are lucky to have rodents,” Munro argues…and makes her case with equal warmth to hearts and minds.

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Twenty-one representatives of the largest mammalian order pose in this fetching portrait gallery.

Each one depicted, all or in part, at actual size, the rodentine array begins with a pocket-watch–size African pygmy jerboa and concludes with the largest member of the clan, the “sweet-looking capybara.” In between, specimens climb the scale past chipmunks and northern flying squirrels to a Norway rat, porcupine, and groundhog. Despite a few outliers such as the naked mole rat and a rather aggressive-looking beaver, Munro’s animals—particularly her impossibly cute guinea pig—strongly exude shaggy, button-eyed appeal. Her subjects may come across as eye candy, but they are drawn with naturalistic exactitude, and in her accompanying descriptive comments, she often relates certain visible features to distinctive habitats and behaviors. She also has a terrific feel for the memorable fact: naked mole rats run as quickly backward in their tunnels as forward; African giant pouched rats have been trained to sniff out mines; the house mouse “is a romantic. A male mouse will sing squeaky love songs to his girlfriend” (that are, fortunately or otherwise, too high for humans to hear). Closing summaries will serve budding naturalists in need of further specifics about sizes, diets, geographical ranges, and the like.

“Humans are lucky to have rodents,” Munro argues…and makes her case with equal warmth to hearts and minds. (websites, index) (Informational picture book. 7-9)