Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild

Finally, a new panda book! It's a bittersweet addition to my library collection though. I remember as a child the excitement and interest in endangered pandas and how cute and exotic they seemed, how we watched videos of newborn cubs, and how they were almost like celebrities! Fast-forward through the years, and panda-fever has caught on again. Elementary school kids beg me for panda books, kids make panda pillows in sewing class and panda designs in perler beads. But are pandas in any better state, twenty years (ok, maybe closer to thirty) down the road? Sadly, it seems not. Is this a species that will ever exist successfully in the wild? Will they even survive in captive breeding populations? For that matter, should scientists devote show more time, effort, and money towards saving this rare and endangered species when there are so many other urgent crises at hand?

Thimmesh addresses these and other concerns, while still supplying plenty of cute panda pictures. She focuses on a specific program in China which is focusing on reintroducing giant pandas to the wild. This program includes a careful isolation of pandas from human (and shots of humans dressed in giant panda costumes) as well as a summary of the challenges and difficulties faced in the breeding of giant pandas. A chapter is included on the difficulty and controversies around saving large animals like the pandas, tigers, or polar bears whose habitat may no longer exist.

The narrative ends with the "success" of the panda breeding program - in 2016 pandas were removed from the threatened species list and reclassified as "vulnerable." However with less than 2,000 pandas left in the wild, how long will that continue? Will the reintroduction of pandas continue to change the ecosystem or will their habitat loss continue? Thimmesh concludes with the often-familiar list of "what you can do", a glossary, sources, and index.

While this narrative touches only briefly on larger concerns of conservation, ecology, and environmental concerns, it's also the first narrative nonfiction book on giant pandas I've seen in quite a few years and will fill a gap in library collections. It's aimed at a younger audience who may not be ready to think critically about environmental concerns but are at a point where they are gathering knowledge and thinking about how they can affect their communities on a smaller scale.

Verdict: Well-researched and written in an accessible style, this is sure to fly off your shelves to panda fans as well as providing a starting point for students wanting to do more in-depth research.

ISBN: 9780544818910; Published 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Purchased for the library show less

This book focuses on wildlife pandas in China and the struggles they face to breed and stay in existence. One of the reasons why the pandas struggle with breeding is because of their huge size. China has had to really work to get the pandas to mate with one another and create more pandas. With lots of hard work and perseverance, the pandas are eventually able to get their population up to safe numbers that ensure their existence. Pandas are of significant value to china's ecosystem. They help the forests vegetation, which provides food for the people of China. The book includes some real life pictures of the pandas in China! This book and story is great for middle schoolers who are learning about the ecosystem and the environment. It show more brings great awareness to the importance of animals and the role they play in the world. show less

A nice book that shows how human intervention has lead to the panda population becoming endangered and how efforts are being taken to reverse this. It tells of activist in china's efforts to teach panda cubs raised in captivity how to live in the wild. This is good to teach kids the reasons why the panda is endangered.

Great book! Very informative about pandas and encouraging to see just how scientist are working hard to aid these species. Recommended for 4th- 8th graders.

This book is about the pandas in China becoming extinct. Humans are now teaching cubs how to be wild and stay alive. Humans have destroyed their habitats and they are slowing disappearing. This book does not have much to do with my content area. Students could figure out many pandas have died or at what rate the pandas are disappearing, but it does not relate to math specifically. It is a cute book and may interest those that are fascinated by the wild.

With extinction coming for Pandas in China, they are somehow making a comeback from the near extinction. This is an informative, quick read about the human efforts to reintroduce pandas to the wild in parts of China.

This book is about the conservation efforts of people in China to save pandas. It talks about how 1,000 years ago, there were roughly 23,000 wild pandas in the world, and now they are an endangered species. This book follows how people in china take baby pandas and teach them how to be wild and stay wild throughout their lives. "Camp Panda" is a good book for students to read about while doing a research project.