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In 1934 William Harkness set off to China – planning to bring the first live Panda to the US. His wife, Ruth, longed to go with him, but in 1934 women were considered too delicate for such adventures. Then came the sad news. William had died in China. Ruth decided to carry on her husband’s dream despite the fact that she had absolutely no experience as an explorer or with wild animals and made her living as a dress designer! Her friends did their best to discourage her but clearly Ruth was strong and determined and in 1936 she set out on her journey. The obstacles were huge from the very nature of the shy elusive panda, to the difficult terrain but Mrs. Harkness was helped by a young Chinese man called Quentin Young and amazingly they succeeded. A baby panda called Su Lin was discovered in an old dead tree and brought in triumph back to the States – where Americans fell in love with the baby and with the entire adorable species.
This is a story that has MANY potholes for readers today. Wait – women were too delicate to be explorers? Wait – they just picked up a baby without looking for its mother? Wait – they just took it out of the country without really knowing how to keep it alive and healthy? Wait – Quentin Young was a dashing young man? Hmmm. Alicia Potter does an outstanding job of providing young readers with the background necessary to negotiate these potholes – the attitudes of the times – while acknowledging that today we think differently. Readers can see that times have changed, the world has learned a lot and Ruth Harkness played a pivotal role in changing the way the world thought of and treated animals.
Then there are Melissa Sweet’s absolutely fabulous illustrations! I LOVED how the illustrations were as integral to telling the story as the text. Sweet created beautiful watercolor paintings with an asian feel to them as well as employing her trademark collage techniques. Postcards, stamps and coins adorn the pages that have an old-fashioned picture album style. I should stop or Cindy won’t have anything left to talk about but I do want to say that I was lucky enough to get this lovely book signed by Melissa Sweet at ALA. I admire her work so much but as usual, I wasn’t able to say anything coherent at the time. Still – what a treat!
