Drops of Life

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 19. MÄRZ 2012

Finnish author Esko-Pekka Tiitinen offers a parable about kinship and caring for the environment, based on his play of the same name. When a dove gets lost, an owl helps her fly back to Africa; along the way, the birds meet a whale that saves its beached brothers and sisters. When they discover that the dove's forest has become a desert, the wind carries a message to other animals, urging them to take part in replanting. The story is a bit of a guilt trip the whales beach themselves "to say to the humans that the sea belongs to us, too," and the animals literally water a tree with their tears. But Nikolai Tiitinen creates a hopeful atmosphere with soulful animals set against compositions of blazing fire and cool earth tones. Ages 5 up.