When I picked up this book I will confess I didn't think about why the illustrator placed origami paper cranes on the cover. It was the image on the first page that made me stop and gasp and ask the important question - what's going on here?
Image source Booktopia
Take a look at the elephant. Some thing mechanical or clockwork seems to be part of his ear.
The text says: "There were once great beasts that roamed this empty land." The key word here is once and notide the use of past tense.
This book is an imaginative photo essay with powerful juxtaposed images that show endangered animals and the possible future of these glorious creatures. Will we only see these creatures in a museum? The book serves as a warning to humans that we need to change our behaviour and urgently implement animal conservation
In the future will we only see:
- Mechanical/Clockwork elephants
- Origami cranes
- Dragonflies as jeweled brooches
- Lions as statues
- Penguins in a snow globe
The page near the end that shows a beautiful wild cat standing on a pile of rubbish is especially chilling. "But each day the ugliness of the changing world crept closer and closer to their vanishing footsteps." The end papers are also very important showing a lush forest scene at the beginning of the book and tree stumps and destruction at the end.
Here is a set of teaching notes from Mike Lucas.
I would use this book with a senior primary group and pair it with these:
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