Save the Animals

Save the Animals is one of six books in Crabtree’s “Good to Be Green” series that encourages children to embrace environmentally friendly habits. The copyright pages in all the books contain a number of suggested “Before, During and After Prompts” while the penultimate page, “A note about sharing this book”, is directed at any adults who are reading the book with (a) child(ren).This section explains the book’s purpose and suggests ways that adults can use the book with children. The “Good to Be Green” books have all been illustrated by Diane Ewen whose cartoon style artwork presents readers with multiracial characters.

The focus of Save the Animals is habitat loss and how that loss impacts animals, especially those that are endangered. When Leo goes to play in a local wooded area, he discovers that all the trees have been cut down. His mother explains that the trees have been removed so that a new housing development can be built. When Leo asks, “Where are all the animals going to live?”, his mother tells him that some will adapt to this new setting or find somewhere else to live, but “In some places, they die out and are never seen again.” Mother and son’s conversation then goes on to touch upon global warming and its impact on animals. When Leo asks, “What can we do to stop this from happening?”, his mother suggests a starting point is reducing air pollution. Leo’s taking his concerns to his teacher, Mr. Green, results in some reduce, reuse, recycle classroom efforts that culminate with the class’ holding a Wildlife Action Day that results in their raising enough money “to adopt a tiger!”. In a number of instances, the author, via text printed on a green background, adds some factual information related to an event in the story. In the case of the class’ adopting a tiger, Chancellor’s informational text explains that Leo’s classroom will not actually be housing a tiger:

Wildlife charities work hard to protect animals and habitats. You can give them money to “adopt” an animal that is in danger of becoming extinct. You don’t actually get to keep the animal! Your money helps the charity provide a safe conservation area, where the animal can live and have babies.

Following Save the Animals’s main text, Chancellor provides a five-question true/false test plus a “Get Active” page that offers four suggestions to the book’s readers regarding their engaging in activities related to endangered animals. In the first, children are encouraged to put on a Wildlife Action Day at their school. The second suggestion is that children find pictures of endangered animals and then create “a poster to tell people about animals in danger.” The third activity suggests that children identify a polar animal that is in danger because of melting ice and then write a poem about it. The final suggestion relates to recycling/reusing paper and cardboard, but this activity, while worthy, is not directly connected to the book’s topic. The book’s final page is shared by a glossary and an index, with the former consisting of words that had been bolded in the text.

Though Save the Animals offers a good introduction to the plight of endangered species and the role of global warming in the extinction of species, the book’s rather bland “Get Active” suggestions underline how relatively powerless children are in being able to effect change at an international level. However, at a local level, birds, butterflies, moths and other insects, plus wild plants, are being impacted by urban spread, and it is in their local neighborhoods that children can become active in preserving some of the plants, animals and insects that once thrived where homes, manicured lawns and pavement now rule. Though the book’s opening scenario reflected a local happening, Save the Animals’s content needed to return to what children could realistically change in their own neighborhoods.