Author(s): Nicola Davies

9-12 Years Middle Readers

A child, a wild animal - and a life-changing encounter. An exciting new range of books in which children find solutions to problems through conservation rather than killing. One night, Wilen is woken up when his hut is tipped sideways by elephants! The elephants always travel past the village, which sits between two forest reserves, but recently, as land is cleared for crops, they have lost their way and are destroying the harvest. Uncle Denngu urges the villagers to sell the land to a mining company who will cut down the trees and get rid of the elephants. Wilen's grandpa knows it's a very bad idea but when he is killed by a cyclone there is no one to defend the forest. Wilen fears that all is lost...until he hears about a scheme that pays local people to plant trees and look after them. Nicola Davies has visited all the countries she writes about - and information about real conservation projects is included at the back of each book. Unlike the competition, these books focus on children who live in countries where wild animals pose a threat, and the solutions that will affect their lives and their future. It features beautiful black and white mixed media illustrations by Annabel Wright.