Excellent writing and documentation distinguish Markle’s latest.
Markle introduces the critically endangered Amur leopard, detailing current strategies to augment its numbers using temporarily relocated, zooborn cats.
From a 1950s population of around 2,400, the leopard dwindled to about 30 by 2007, despite increasing conservation efforts by such international groups as the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance. Markle presents the Amur leopard’s native habitat, eastern Russia's taiga, or boreal forest. She shows the effects of modern logging, mining, farming, and hunting on a rugged region that previously favored the leopard’s large, solitary home ranges and ample access to prey. In 2010, an international coalition began planning for a second, backup population of Amur leopards, recognizing that the remaining cats could be wiped out by disease or disaster. Russia protected the leopards’ last natural habitat in 2012, later designating separate taiga land for the spare population. Markle’s crisp prose conveys the extensive scientific and technological steps needed to ensure that zooborn adult leopards could mate in large enclosures, with mothers teaching their young to hunt. After two years, cubs would enter their wild habitat, with mothers returned to their zoos. Clear, often riveting stock photos show adult cats and cubs in natural habitats as well as zoos, and maps are effectively utilized. Markle invites readers to track the evolving progress of the plan to help the Amur leopard survive.
Excellent writing and documentation distinguish Markle’s latest. (author’s note, additional facts, timeline, glossary, quotation sources, annotated list of web and print resources, index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4677-9247-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new...
How Ivan confronts his harrowing past yet stays true to his nature exemplifies everything youngsters need to know about courage.
Living in a "domain" of glass, metal and cement at the Big Top Mall, Ivan sometimes forgets whether to act like a gorilla or a human—except Ivan does not think much of humans. He describes their behavior as frantic, whereas he is a peaceful artist. Fittingly, Ivan narrates his tale in short, image-rich sentences and acute, sometimes humorous, observations that are all the more heartbreaking for their simple delivery. His sorrow is palpable, but he stoically endures the cruelty of humans until Ruby the baby elephant is abused. In a pivotal scene, Ivan finally admits his domain is a cage, and rather than let Ruby live and die in grim circumstances, he promises to save her. In order to express his plea in a painting, Ivan must bravely face buried memories of the lush jungle, his family and their brutal murder, which is recounted in a brief, powerful chapter sure to arouse readers’ passions. In a compelling ending, the more challenging question Applegate poses is whether or not Ivan will remember what it was like to be a gorilla. Spot art captures poignant moments throughout.
Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new generation of advocates. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-199225-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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