( 4 reviews )
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Posted: Dec 9 2007
This slim book of panda facts and photography might as well have been titled: The Secret Life of the Giant Panda. In pictures and text, pandas are revealed as playful, curious, affectionate and solitary creatures in their life in the wilds of China. Heather Angel has done a magnificent job of capturing the elusive panda in her photography that illustrates this book. My favorite picture, on page 51, is that of a young panda cub sliding on its back down an icy slope in utter abandon. Love baby animals? Love wildlife? Care about these endangered animals? If I could have only one book on pandas (out of the several in my library) this would be the one.
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Posted: May 14 2007
The pictures in this book are adorably charming. They depict a little of these wonderfil bears, the pandas. The text flows easily and gives great information. to the reader. A must-have for every pandarazzi!
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( 6 of 7 found this review helpful ) Posted: Nov 20 2005
This book, with lots of pictures of the cute black-and-white aniaml, makes a great coffee-table book, but it's also packed with easy-to-understand materials, facts, about the giant panda. The author is a British marine biologist-turned wild life photographer who has traveled to southwest China many times to photograph wildlife, including the giant panda. The photos in the book are from her collection, and most of the pandas featured are young ones who tend to exhibit an insatiable curiosity about the world and about bamboos. In one word, the pandas are just cute. But this is a not a picturebook. It's a book about pandas, their history, their homes and habitat, and their various behaviors. At the time of publication it had not been decided what family the giant panda actually belonged to -- it was not until 2002 or so that DNA analysis "conclusively" concluded that the panda is actually a bear. Other than this, the book gives accurate facts about aspects of the panda. There is also a short chapter, and a couple pictures, on the red panda, aka the lesser panda. I recommend the book to anyone interested in facts about pandas because it tells you pretty much everything about these cute creatures as well as presents the materials in an easy-to-understand manner. The author writes clearly, and the pictures of pandas enhance the reading experience.
