Aviary Wonders Inc. Spring
Catalog and Instruction Manual. By Kate Samworth. Clarion. $17.99.
Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to
Save Africa’s Fastest Cats. By Sy Montgomery. Photographs by Nic Bishop.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $18.99.
An exceptional book whose profundity
will likely escape the young readers at whom it is ostensibly aimed, Kate
Samworth’s Aviary Wonders Inc. is a
subdued, mordantly funny plea for preservation of avian habitat today from the
vantage point of a not-too-distant future in which many birds have simply
disappeared. The book really is structured like a catalog, beginning with a
message from “company founder Alfred Wallis” that strikes just the right (and
typical) corporate note of advocacy and self-congratulation, through pages that
show bird parts “created” by the company and given the sorts of names that
companies do indeed give to their wares every day. One feather, for instance,
is labeled “Minimalist: Red, white, black, and bold,” while the page offering
different bird bodies comments that “a change of scale transforms the everyday
into the fantastic.” The catalog offers swimmers, perchers, birds of prey and
waders, presenting parts of genuine birds as if they are made by Aviary Wonders Inc. and noting which
birds really have become extinct – but doing so in a way that, as one would
expect in a catalog, makes those samples seem even more exotic than the others.
The “parts descriptions” are just right for an imagined catalog offering –
showing the beak of an avocet, for example, the text says, “The upturned beak
suggests aristocratic taste and elegance,” and a general note about this part
says, “Because out artisans have complete creative control, each beak is
crafted with passion and attention to detail.” There are explanatory pages
here, too, such as “Legs Dos and Don’ts: Your bird’s proportions must be
balanced,” which includes “correct” and “incorrect” choices. In addition to
parts, “Flight Patterns” are offered, with the note that “Wing shape affects
flying style. Choose wings accordingly.” There are also fancifully named
“embellishments,” such as collars called Carnegie, Getty and Rockefeller. And
there are eight pages of “Assembly Instructions,” which are simultaneously
hilarious and bizarre, plus two “Troubleshooting” pages and an “Order Form”
with an entirely appropriate corporate disclaimer about the company’s inability
to guarantee quality of flight and voice and other matters. This is Samworth’s
first book, and it is a beauty, gorgeous to look at in its full, vibrant
colors, deceptively easy to read, and built on a foundation of so much heart
and soul that parents will be at least as fascinated by it as their children will
be.
Samworth’s book is set in a
near-future time when bioengineering has advanced and bird extinctions
presumably have, too: the book’s subtitle says the company has been “Renewing
the World’s Bird Supply Since 2031.” Other books, more factual but no less
devoted, are dedicated to scientists who are trying to prevent further
extinctions so books like Aviary Wonders
Inc. will not become a reality. A new entry in the always excellent
“Scientists in the Field” series, Chasing
Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa’s Fastest Cats, is a case in point. Cheetahs
are the most-endangered cats in Africa as well as the fastest predatory animals
on Earth, and their sleekness and beauty make them natural “spokescats” for
attempts to prevent the sorts of occurrences that threaten them and many
less-photogenic animals with destruction. “The point of our work is not to have
tame cheetahs. It’s to have wild cheetahs,” explains Laurie Marker of the
Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). But getting to the wild ones often requires a
degree of taming at first, since cheetahs are a significant threat to farm
animals and are therefore often killed by farmers – leaving cubs behind to be
raised by humans until they can be released back into the wild. Sy Montgomery explains that CCF has rescued
some 900 cheetahs and returned most to the wild, but the inexorable pressures
of coexistence with humans continue, and even with educational efforts to try
to help farmers understand the importance of cheetahs to a healthy ecosystem, preservation
of the big cats is difficult. This is a familiar story in many of the
“Scientists in the Field” books – unremitting conflicts caused by the differing
needs of humans and animals remorselessly push animals to smaller and smaller
habitats and potentially lead to their extinction. As in other books in this
series, there are no “bad guys” here: farmers often live at subsistence levels
and cannot afford to lose some of their animals to wild carnivores. The
balancing act of human and animal needs is what organizations such as CCF are
all about. The scientists in Chasing
Cheetahs have some interesting methods of preserving the cheetah
population. For example, they arrange to sell protective dogs to farmers so the
dogs can scare predators such as cheetahs away – and the sales are made at
prices low enough for the farmers to avoid, and come with a contract under
which CCF can take the dog back if it is not cared for properly. The specifics
of the scientists’ work are, as always, fascinating, but the photos by Nic Bishop
– also as always – are even more gripping than the text. A cheetah high in a
tree, using its keen eyes to scan for prey; a scientist holding a tiny and
utterly adorable cheetah cub; animals amid which wild cheetahs live, such as
warthogs, antelopes and deadly puff adders; and many photos of the everyday
life and work of the CCF scientists in Namibia, where the book is set – these
are just some of the scenes. The book is packed with factual tidbits that make
cheetahs even more interesting – for example, they are sight hunters whose
sense of smell is so poor that they may not notice a piece of meat on the
ground nearby unless they can see it. Beautiful pictures, a clear and
interesting story, and a real-world conundrum that has no easy solutions –
these are the ingredients of Chasing
Cheetahs, as of many “Scientists in the Field” books. Taken together, they
are a recipe for engaging reading and thoughtful contemplation.
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