Poaching and war damaged an isolated wilderness in West Zambia, reducing its lion population to just one: Lady, the last lioness. Witness Lady’s fight for survival in this evocative narrative on the decline, fall, and rebirth of the Liuwa Plains. Follow Lady as she grapples with a landscape altered by human hands and discover how both Lady and humankind restore balance to the environment.
More than a story about one brave lion, The Lioness offers a great introduction to life science by looking at the workings of an ecosystem, the methods of scientists and environmentalists, and explaining the interconnection between the plant, animal, and human systems. _ Goodreads
Rise of the Lioness Review
To start with, the fact that the lion population in that area was reduced to just one is absolutely horrific. The fact that it was able to bounce back from that? Absolutely amazing. It’s one of those deals where I’m ashamed of the human race and proud of them by turns. Rise of the Lioness is a well-told true story of the comeback of the Liuwa plains. It particularly focuses on Lady, who was the last surviving lion in the region for entirely too long.
Rise of the Lioness does a great job of bringing home the devastation that can occur in a region in a relatively short period of time. It communicates well how difficult it is to fix a region once its food web has been partially destroyed. It holds true to the saying that its much easier to destroy than it is to create. The information is written in a way to be easy to understood by ages 10-13 (grades 5-8), but it’s still interesting to adults too. I knew that human beings could wreak havoc on an area, but I didn’t understand exactly how complicated the destruction that they caused actually was. I’ll admit, I thought that if you just took all the people who were causing trouble away, everything would eventually fix itself. This book showed me how wrong that was.
The pictures chosen for the book are absolutely gorgeous. There’s one particular photo that even makes hyenas look kind of cute! My favorite one was probably of Nakawa and his brother. It’s a wonderful picture that makes you feel content and hopeful the longer you look at it. It is very well-placed in the book for more than one reason. The headings are eye-catching, the color scheme deliberate and effective. Overall, Rise of the Lioness is – whilst not exactly amazing – a very effective educational book that will make kids and adults think for a long while after they’ve read it.
Rise of the Lioness is available on Amazon.
Title: Rise of the Lioness | Author: Bradley Hague | Publisher: National Geographic Kids (site) | Pub Date: 2016-9-13 | Pages: 56 | ISBN13: 9781426325328 | Genre: Children’s Educational | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 4 out of 5 | Date Read: 2016-9-23 | Source: I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
