62 Books Like A Wild Child's Guide to Endangered Animals

As I stated earlier, I simply love nonfiction children’s picture books, and this one is no exception. Dive into the life of one of the most beloved and indispensable creatures on earth—the hardworking honeybee. From birth to death to new life, Fleming takes us on a poetic journey through every important moment in the life of this incredible creature.

Rohmann's meticulous oil paintings bring us so close to the action that we feel like we're one of the actors in this epic tale. This is exactly the sort of book I would have been obsessed with as a child, and I truly believe if every human read this, they’d have a whole new outlook on these stunning creatures. 

A little girl takes a book from a shelf and plunges into an imaginary encounter with a beautiful polar bear. Poetically written and gorgeously illustrated, the book teaches us all about polar bears and their lives: Where they live, what they eat, how big their paws are, and about the birth of bear cubs. As the book jacket copy rightly says, the book engages the reader’s interest in amazing facts, while filling them with a deep sense of wonder.

Learn about the biggest, brightest, smelliest, loudest, featheriest birds on a tour with a chatty chickadee. Each page features a short poem about a superlative bird and includes additional background on the bird’s natural history. There’s also a short glossary and a guide to resources on bird watching and conservation notes. The author even explains the rhyming patterns and structure of each poem. Fun and informative!

Sometimes stories from the imagination are the best way to convey concepts in all their layered complexity. Concepts like migration. The beautifully illustrated Hummingbird tells the story of a little girl who moves from her grandmother’s village in Central America to New York City, paralleling a ruby-throated hummingbird’s migratory journey. Information about the hummingbird and its migration are woven seamlessly into the book, shining through the lovely story. 

This hugely ambitious book by Indian cartoonist Rohan Chakravarty takes on the whole world, targeting audiences of all ages, from 8 to 88. It is composed of gag cartoons and comic strips based exclusively on wildlife and nature. A staunch advocate for Mother Earth, Rohan goes for the jugular on environmental injustice—on land, in the air, under the sea.

His witty caricatures target serious issues like climate chaos and the man-animal war zone. Rohan creates both concept and illustration, delving into the many reasons why the planet is in deep trouble. Human-caused trouble. This book is one-of-a-kind, meaning there is no other book to compare it to. Superlative!

Might as well start them young: this work by Chelsea Clinton cites reading ages of 4 to 8 years old. Chelsea Clinton? Rings a few bells? Yes, she is the only daughter of former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary. Targeting such a young reading age, the book relies heavily on superb illustration by Gianna Marino, who brings a dozen animals to life with engaging artwork. Extinction means gone forever. Can you imagine a world without tigers or rhinos?

Humankind is driving these two species to the brink of extinction. In the book, the reasons for this are covered by the phrase: ‘poaching and habitat loss’—without going into detail that ‘poaching’ mainly means hawking tiger-bone and rhino-horn concoctions as bogus cures in Traditional Chinese Medicine. But there is only so much bad news that a five-year-old can take.

Although co-authored, the main driver behind this book appears to be Tibetan Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard’s take on the Buddhist tenets of the interdependence of all things and compassion for the precious lives of all sentient beings. And we are not talking about cute, cuddly panda bears and koala bears. Talking about all creatures—whether they be furry, slimy, prickly, or just plain ugly.

Taking out a key species—ugly or not—can disrupt an entire ecosystem. For instance, wolves have long been considered pests—until the discovery that they are critical for keeping balance in entire ecosystems. But what about mosquitoes? Should there be compassion for an insect that causes millions of deaths a year? This book is vividly illustrated by Becca Hall.

The Tourist Trail is an eco-thriller featuring an unlikely but thoroughly entertaining cast of characters—among them a whale rescuer, a penguin researcher, an FBI agent, a computer tech, and an animal-rights activist—whose lives come together in the wild and dangerous waters of the Southern Ocean. All of these characters have secrets that are slowly revealed, and the alternating points of view pull readers toward a cinematic ending. The Tourist Trail is about endangered species and oceans at risk, but most of all, it’s about animals and the human heroes who devote their lives toward saving them—it’s not only an unputdownable mystery but a compassionate and heartfelt ode to our oceanic animals who need saving.

The Rachel Porter Mysteries by Jessica Speart are not well known, but they deserve to be. These books are available now only as Kindle ebooks and used mass-market paperbacks. Based on years of experience as an investigative journalist focusing on wildlife law enforcement and endangered species issues, the author created protagonist Rachel Porter, a new wildlife agent who is determined to protect animals wherever she is assigned, no matter what dangers and challenges may erupt from the environment, the local citizens, or her own bosses, who typically believe that she doesn’t belong in the field. Speart writes amazing scenes that are both suspenseful and funny, a trick that as an author I envy. I learned a lot about the illegal wildlife trade in each book, and I never tired of the quirky characters and Rachel’s fearless dedication to protecting wildlife at all costs. 

This coffee table book is a glorious pictorial celebration. Since embarking on the steep learning curve of becoming an International Sea Turtle Campaigner for Greenpeace International many years ago, I have been in awe of these extraordinary, endangered creatures.

From ancient lineage to migrational journeys, in-depth biology, and inspirational advocators, American biologist James Spotila explores the journeys of these ‘seven swimmers’. His book is both a plea for their conservation and a detailed explanation of biology and behaviour. Turn its pages slowly, to capture the detail of their gentle ocean lives.