The Sibert Medal–winning team behind Kakapo Rescue here focuses on Africa's most endangered cat in their latest impeccably executed Scientists in the Field series addition.
Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop travel to Namibia, to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), where they meet Laurie Marker and learn about her "maverick" approach to conservation. Farmers in Namibia see cheetahs as dangerous predators, so they trap and kill them in an effort to protect their goats, sheep and cattle. Marker re-educates them to understand that cheetahs prefer wild game. Then she proposes an alternative--the CCF raises and trains Kangal dogs, a Turkish breed known for guarding livestock, and offers them at low cost to farmers. Marker and her colleagues also visit schools to teach children about cheetahs and the crucial role of predators in the eco-system. Readers accompany Montgomery and Bishop on a data-gathering field mission led by Finn, a border collie trained to locate cheetah scat, and then to a high-tech vet's office to watch a cheetah undergo her annual medical exam. The book discusses the role of DNA in identifying each cheetah's movements and habits, as well as reintroducing rescued cheetahs into the wild.
Perhaps it is the African light, but Bishop's photographs look particularly stunning, and the appeal of the cheetahs themselves, with their large "sunset-colored" eyes and distinctive markings, will lead eager readers to learn how to help rescue cheetahs and to explore the bibliography for further reading. --Angela Carstensen, school librarian and blogger