ANIMAL RESCUE

Goodman (Ultimate Field Trip #3, p. 799, etc.) offers the riveting and true account of John Walsh, who has dedicated his life to saving animals. The subject is surprisingly accessible in the Ready-To-Read series format; the suspense of the story will keep emerging readers turning pages. The tale opens in Suriname, a jungle in South America, where Walsh is hurriedly canoeing to reach trapped animals before the rising water levels overtake them. A dam that has been built across one of Suriname’s rivers is causing the water to back up and flood the jungle. Walsh and his crew are plucking sloths off of the topmost branches of trees and saving starved tortoises from their perches on the last bit of dry land. The two other chapters cover Walsh’s exciting work in a Kuwaiti zoo after the Gulf War, and in Kobe, Japan, in the wake of an earthquake. Full-color photographs on every page enrich the already evocative text. (Nonfiction. 6-9)