The Great Monkey Rescue

The Great Monkey Rescue

Picture book
Anyone--child or adult--who enjoys a suspenseful real life
animal story with a happy ending will find Sandra Markle's The Great
Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins fascinating.
Golden lion tamarins are adorable, big eyed, squirel sized,
blaze furred monkeys native only to Brazil where they reside in rain
forests. The trees provide predator protection. Plants capture water
that they can drink without touching the ground. They, in turn,
benefit their habitat by eating insects and spreading plant seeds by
eating fruit. They have a complex social order.
Things were going fine for the species until people got in the
way, cutting down trees and growing crops. The only habitat they
could survive in in the wild was systematically destroyed. In
response their population shrunk to the point of being in danger of
extinction.
The process of saving golden lion tamarins is a suspenseful
story involving trial and error and a lot of learning on the part of
humans. It makes a good way to introduce kids to the serious issues
of habitat destruction and series extinction that their generation
will be called on to tackle. Maybe future naturalists will be inspired.
Plus you gotta love the photos!
On a personal note, after the Veazie family breakfast and egg hunt on
Easter Eve Katie came all the way home from Portland. We stopped by
Orono Thrift Shop and then went to Amber and Brian's apartment to hang
with Amber. It was just so wonderful spending a day with my
daughters. Brian kept us well fed with taco soup and homemade bread
for lunch and tacos for supper.
A great big shout out goes out to my children and their significant
others who are simply the best!
Jules Hathaway


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