fiction Archives - Page 270 of 709

Pangolina
by Jane Goodall (Author) and Daishu Ma (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: After a blissful babyhood being cared for by her loving mother, Pangolina ventures out alone into the forest to become an independent adult, helped along by wise, older animal companions, including a civet and a bat. But one day cruel hunters trap Pangolina, putting her into a cage along with her friends, and bring them to a market to be sold as wild game. Pangolina is especially vulnerable, since her scales are prized by humans who believe they have curative powers. To the rescue comes a small girl who knows that pangolins are friendly fellow creatures who have feelings too, and who convinces her mother to buy Pangolina and set her free.

Snippet: Once I was startled when a large creature — a bit like a fox with wings — flew low over us. My mother told me not to worry because it was only a fruit bat.

Almost every night, Bat flew past us with his pals, and we became good friends.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Jelly
by Clare Rees (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: The biggest problem with being trapped on a jellyfish isn’t what you’d expect. You get over the fear of death (because you start looking forward to it) and the smell of fish (because it quickly becomes your breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Boredom is an issue, sure, but it’s not the main one; the biggest problem is not being able to get away from everyone.

Martha is stuck on the back of the jellyfish and has been for a long time. She and everyone else living there don’t know how exactly they got there or how long they’ve been there or where they’re going–they just remember that something traumatic happened. And they can’t escape.

But now, the crew has finally had enough. They’re going to escape the jellyfish–or die trying. (Which probably means dying.)

Snippet: Deciding we needed to escape was easy; figuring out how to actually do it was another matter. Trust me, if we’d had any idea at all how to get to land, we’d have been away, running through the green grass of those hills toward freedom. That didn’t stop anyone from having plans, though.