Patagonia puma Rupestre and her four adorable cubs are featured in wildlife filmmaker René Araneda's breathtaking children's nonfiction picture book, Puma Concolor, translated from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel (Newborns). Stunning illustrations by artist Julio Antonio Blasco (The Great Big Animal Race) turn the fascinating story about filming in Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia into an all-around artistic blockbuster that is certain to mesmerize middle-grade nature lovers.
Araneda begins by emphasizing the importance of not interfering in the lives of his subjects: "We want to record the animals behaving naturally--living freely, without human influence." Said animals are a family of pumas, called "concolor" for their uniform tan coloring. Araneda provides background on the puma in general, including distinctive features, sex differences, and vocalizations (with a QR code that leads to a web page of recordings of the cats' sounds) as well as discussing their habitats ("pumas inhabit nearly all the ecosystems on the American continents").
"Torres del Paine has one of the highest population densities of pumas in the world, thanks to the protection they have received over the past decade." From a distance, Araneda captures Rupestre, a "calm, confident" female puma, caring for and teaching her spotted cubs: "They developed their muscles, their reflexes, and their techniques for stalking, attacking, and defending themselves. It was play--but it was also training."
Blasco's striking mixed-media illustrations use strong, unbroken lines that depict the cats' power and the vastness of the landscape. He uses the palette of nature to highlight the extremes of the different habitats, fully saturating the art with each hue so that the images appear flattened or constrained. The pumas fight for survival in the cold blues and stark whites of challenging winters and the orange and brown of arid summers. Blasco shades and shadows Patagonia's lush season in greens and yellows, giving the felines and their home texture and depth. Throughout the book, the film crew appears in blue, like they are hiding in the shadows to minimize their impact on Rupestre's family.
Schimel keeps young readers glued to Rupestre's adventures with captivating and valuably informative text. For budding zoologists, environmentalists, filmmakers, or any cat lover, Puma Concolor has plenty that will evoke purrs of delight. --Jen Forbus, freelancer
Shelf Talker: A documentary filmmaker and an illustrator collaborate to tell the incredible story of a puma and her four cubs in this awe-inspiring middle-grade nonfiction picture book.