Where Life's No Longer Wild
by Marilyn Singer
illustrated by Gordy Wright
Date: 2019
Publisher: words & pictures
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 48
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley
Humans may have built towns and cities, but we aren’t the only ones who live in them. Given the smallest chance – a park, a garden, a window box, a basement, a subway tunnel, a bridge – wildlife manages to survive in the city. Look around – you may discover you’re in an urban jungle!
This beautifully illustrated non-fiction book tells the unique stories of the animals who have made their homes in urban spaces around the world. Each story is told through a short descriptive paragraph paired with colourful illustrations so children will discover the amazing wildlife we never knew were our neighbours.
(synopsis from Goodreads)
DNF @ 33%
I tried. But after a few poems basically telling us that we have to suck it up and just let the animals do whatever they like--human health and safety be damned--I'd had enough. Yes, we've created problems by encroaching on wild spaces and displacing animal populations... but the solution is not to let animals have free run of our cities, eating our pets and giving people diseases.
It reminded me a bit of the creepy picture book Tokyo Digs a Garden, in which there's a nature apocalypse and everyone's okay with it (because flooded streets and wild animals in the office lobby are totally safe). Plus, I'm getting a bit tired of all these free-verse poetry books for kids. I didn't like that kind of poetry as a child, and I don't know if today's kids are going to be any more amenable to it.
Thank you to NetGalley and words & pictures for providing a digital ARC.
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