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BY FRAN SILVERMAN
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can remember reading Charlotte’s Web both as a little girl and then as a mother to my children. This iconic book penned by E.B. White masterfully related the concept of the sentient nature of animals. Who wasn’t horrified to think Wilbur could be sent to slaughter? And who didn’t cry when Charlotte died? This book and others like A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh are literary canon on children’s reading lists. To some degree, however, they anthropomorphize animals, attributing exuberance bordering on hyperactivity to Tigger and pessimism to Eeyore, for example. That’s not necessarily a negative, but it leaves a question on how to address and explain the very real issues facing animals today to children in appropriate ways. The good news is that there are several newly-published books aimed at youngsters that tackle these issues. Here’s a few we spotted that you may want to add to the reading list for a child in your life.
DON’T LET THEM DISAPPEAR By Chelsea Clinton ($11.04 Hardcover) The chief aim of this graceful book for young readers aged 4-8 is summed
24 | Friends of Animals
up in Chelsea Clinton’s dedication in which she states that all children “deserve to grow up in a world where no animal is endangered” and her refrain on each page: “Don’t let them disappear.” At the very beginning of the book, published by Philomel Books, she explains the level of challenges facing wildlife with a key that takes young readers through threat levels ranging from “not vulnerable” to “extinct.” For each of the 12 animals depicted, which include marine mammals, African and Asian wildlife and polar bears, she lists the stage of threat they face and why, and she doesn’t shy away from listing hunting, fishing and habitat destruction as main causes. Illustrator Gianna Marino sets a lovely tone with playful images depicting the animals in their natural environs with their families and herds around them. Each page starts with a few words about what the animals do at night, and at dawn, a nod toward the children who may also be getting ready for bed when they are viewing the book. She also touches on some key facts about each species, making sure to point to behaviors that make them unique. Clinton ends the book with a call to action, urging young readers to take the pledge to help make sure animals don’t disappear and delineating ways children can help. While we’d have preferred Clinton not have listed supporting zoos as an option to help these species
and instead urged families to help children learn respect for wildlife in myriad other ways (see our article on “Raising kids who respect animals” here: friendsofanimals.org/news/ raising-kids-who-respect-animals) the book raises critical issues and informs the younger generation with urgency about what’s ahead if they don’t take steps to respect wildlife. For that we cheer it.
WAKE UP BABY BEAR By Lynn Plourde ($8.27 Hardcover) At a time when states are promoting black bear hunts and the local media is reporting bear sightings as leading stories on the evening news as if they were aliens invading our planet, Wake Up Baby Bear presents a delightful counter to the fear mongering. The book focuses on a baby black bear that is having trouble waking up from his winter hibernation. He’s helped along by friendly woodsy wildlife who try to gently nudge him out of his slumber while his parents go off to look for food after their long winter’s nap. The beauty of this book, with endearing illustrations by Teri Weidner, is that it depicts bears as they should be cast,
