Review by Booklist Review
Whether cute and cuddly or sleek and terrifying, many of the world's animals also need our help. These entries in the NG Kids Mission: Animal Rescue series highlight how researchers around the globe are working tirelessly to protect these endangered animals from extinction. In true National Geographic fashion, an array of stunning, high-quality photos tells the stories as much as the impeccable text. Panda Rescue concentrates on Tao Tao, a cub in a new wild-training program at the Wolong Panda Center, in China, and draws attention to the plight of the shrinking giant panda population. Each title describes the animal's physical characteristics and adaptations, habitat, food sources, and care for its young as well as its importance in the environment and human impact on both its vulnerability and survival. In addition, each chapter includes profiles of scientists in the field and activities to spark kids' interest in animal conservation. Sidebars with even more color photos offer related facts. The visuals will attract the most reluctant readers, while the fight to save these popular animals will keep them reading.--Leeper, Angela Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A trove of panda portraits lights up a survey of international efforts to increase the populations and conserve the habitats of this most photogenic of animals.The chief draw will be the page-after-page presentation of impossibly cute panda newborns, roly-poly cubs, and sedentary adults chomping away at bamboo in both zoos and natural settingswith further views of panda toys, cartoons, and animal workers in panda suits to disguise their human forms. Jazynka and Raven-Ellison's accompanying commentary fills budding conservationists in on the panda family's ancestry and modern members, panda behavior and life cycles, how the animals are cared for in captivity, and particularly on how those born in captivity are "rewilded" (thus the suits) in preparation for releasing them into their natural habitats. The focus shifts back and forth from zoos, mostly in the United States, to nature preserves in China, with frequent inset profiles of panda researchers in both hemispheres and brief Q-and-A sessions. Project ideas for young activists ranging from fundraising activities to wildlife photography cap each chapter, rounded off with healthy lists of organizations and sources of information at the end. The simultaneously publishing Mission: Shark Rescue, by Ruth A. Musgrave, also with Raven-Ellison, covers much the same sort of material with rather more teeth.Heaping helpings of eye candy for panda lovers. (maps, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
