Did you know that lions no longer live in prides?
It makes sense when you think about it: of course, as available territory has reduced and can’t sustain large groups, lions must necessarily live and hunt in smaller groups. This was one of the many thought provoking pieces of information my daughters and I discovered when reading Kate Peridot’s inspirational new non-fiction book for children, ‘Caring Conservationists’.
What’s it about?
Beautifully illustrated by Sarah Long, this book briefly outlines the work of 21 conservationists from around the world and suggests activities that children can engage in to help them develop their understanding of and interest in protecting all creatures.
What’s it like?
Each two page spread explores a particular campaigner: what life events led to their interest in campaigning for their particular animal(s); what did they campaign for; how did they campaign for it; and, finally, what the medium / long term impact has been on those creatures. The text is easy to read and 40% of each spread is taken up with visually engaging pictures that illustrate the campaigner, the creatures they campaigned for and their habitat.
Campaigners covered range from David Attenborough (protecting the natural world) to Tane Davis (keeping Kakapo safe) and Valerie Taylor (shark expert) and Peridot shares interesting snippets about each campaign. For instance, more people are killed each year by falling coconuts than by sharks!
Final thoughts
My girls (aged 6 and 8) enjoyed listening to and reading the information in this book. They both have a general interest in nature and protecting wildlife so found this book appealing. They haven’t yet felt inspired to tackle any of the twenty activities suggested in the book, but that’s possibly because we were reading at bedtime, which meant I wasn’t allowing them to get up and start researching lemur lunches or hedgehog habits online!
This is a lovely book to share with children which focuses strongly on what we can do to conserve animals (rather than mourning heavily what we have already lost). I recommend sharing it with your child to help them process the information within (such as understanding that 1,500 is actually a very small population for any wild animal) and think it would be a valuable addition to any primary school library.
‘Caring Conservationists who are changing our planet’,
written by Kate Peridot, illustrated by Sarah Long,
2023, Walker Books, hardback
Many thanks to the author, publisher and Rachel’s Random Resources for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and a spot on the blog tour.
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