At the BN Kids blog Charlotte Taylor tagged seven charming books for animal lovers of all ages, including:
The Last Panther, by Todd Mitchell
Books for young environmentalists are often a bit heavy handed; not this one, which uses a futuristic setting for a gripping story that doesn’t preach at readers. 11-year-old Kiri lives in a future ravaged by global warming, where most animals are “once-were” creatures. Her father, an ecologist, left the walled city to come to the edge of the ocean. The multiethnic people living there, hunting and fishing, distrust him; for them, killing animals is what you need to do if you want your kids to live. When Kiri meets a panther that her father wants to trap to send to the city, and which the locals want to hunt, the conflict intensifies. The panther is killed, but leaves behind three cubs whose fate hangs in the balance. Kiri is desperate to return them to the wild, but she needs to get her father and the local people working together for this to happen. Kiri’s love for the wild creatures will resonate with young readers, who may well be moved towards activism themselves.
Read about
the other entries on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
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