Rating: **** 4 stars

Nick Dowson, illustrated by Yu Rong,
Tracks of a Panda
Walker.

Information Story

Age: 5-8

This fine picture book shows young children much about the lives of a mother panda and her baby through the young one's first year. The rhythm of that year, through changing seasons in the high mountain forest where they live and roam, is beautifully conveyed; watercolour washes are used skilfully to impart so much about a unique environment. The nature of the creature is well caught too - we get a sense of how pandas move, and of the bone and muscle beneath the furry skin that give them them the strength to climb and swim. These territorial animals need space to flourish and there are illustrations which show them as small figures in a vast mountainous landscape. The language is lyrical and full of poetic comparisons: the newborn panda is 'small as a pine cone' and as pink as 'a blob of wriggling sunset'.

Young readers and listeners will learn about camouflage when they see how the black and white fur sinks into the snowy landscape. And the realities of a nomadic life come over too: the panda needs constantly to seek new food sources.

Margaret Mallett
March 2008 , No. 169

Guide to the rating system:
***** 5 stars, unmissable
**** 4 stars, very good
*** 3 stars, good
** 2 stars, fair
* 1 star, poor