Jane Goodall

This book is pretty awful. The story is of a young pangolin who is captured by poachers to be sold in a wet market and then saved by a young child. The illustrations are gorgeous and rich, the eyes big and soulful. The text is stilted and anthropomorphizes these animals strangely. ( I am pretty sure young pangolins do not need to be told by their parent to "go off and find a mate". When the pangolin is captured, the violence of the text and images turn a sweet book into a terrifying story of a child savior in the face of dangerous and violent poachers. That is pretty intense for a children's book. I do not think modern children need these kinds of heavy handed morals. This book would had more strength by focusing on the natural life of the pangolin and depending on children's innate empathy to do a better job than this scary, moralistic garbage.
Jane Goodall will continue to be one of my heroes and I will always keep her books for adults on my shelves. But not this.… (mer)

I was concerned this (read for our local book group) might be a bit heavy, but it's written in a light, conversational style, and I found it almost compulsive reading. There are anecdotes to explain or illustrate the principles and science, and plenty of brief pauses, as the authors stop for a break.

Jane Goodall is a naturalist, now in her late 80s but still writing and travelling, speaking for the animals, the trees, and humans in a world where climate change and devastation have led to a lot of people giving up on hope.

The book charts her reasons for hoping that the future might not be as bad as predicted, and I found it encouraging, inspiring and overall reassuring. Excellent writing which has, hopefully, brought some of the current environmental issues to the general public.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-book-of-hope-by-jane-goodall-an...… (mer)