Puma Dreams
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“A lovely, beautifully illustrated story of a child's dream fulfilled.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Beautifully illustrated with a strong conservation message.” —School Library Journal
“A lyrical panoramic beauty of a book.” —BookPage
From award-winning duo Tony Johnston and Jim LaMarche comes a stunning, lyrical picture book about a girl’s desire to see an elusive California puma in the wild that includes interesting facts about this beautiful and threatened animal.
A girl visiting her grandmother longs for a glimpse of the solitary and rarely seen puma. Her grandmother tells her that if she’s patient, one day her wish will come true. But patience is hard, the girl thinks. So, the girl and her grandmother stand watch each day, and then finally, without warning, she sees the beautiful animal from afar. Knowing she may never see a puma again, she now knows it’s everyone’s responsibility to protect these increasingly threatened animals.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The girl who narrates this wistful idyll by Johnston (Loving Hands) lives with her grandmother amid rolling grassland. She has long dark hair and a starry-eyed expression, and she dreams of seeing a puma one day. (Her Gram calls it a "long-dream, for it may not ever happen.") The puma population is dwindling, the girl knows: "Some are hunted down./ Some are forced from the land/ when people move in." She sinks her allowance into a salt lick; it lures other animals, but not the one she wants to see. The wisdom of her grandmother ("Easy dreams aren't worth a pin or a pickle") helps sustain her as she gets a lesson in patient waiting. Johnston's deliberately paced story foregrounds the sense of time that comes from living in the natural world, where things can take years, not minutes. Each softly tinted, naturalistic spread by LaMarche (A Story for Bear) captures a scene of rare beauty: a misty morning, a snowy dawn. While the text treats habitat loss and extinction, it focuses, too, on the simple joy of encountering an animal in the wild, where it is meant to be. Ages 4 8.
