Justin Anderson is a film maker who has been involved in high quality film production for the likes of Planet Earth II in his 18-year career of filming wildlife for the BBC. This book is born from his passion to share his fascination with the snow leopard – one of the creatures on the Red List of endangered species – the snow leopard is listed as ‘vulnerable’.
This is a very simply told tale of how Anderson went looking for snow leopards and what he saw, but the strength of the book lies in the “footnotes” and the glorious illustrations by Patrick Benson. Benson is a multi-award-winning illustrator, known for the realism of his illustration – the almost photographic detail, rendered in such a simple palette with detail that makes you think you might actually be able to stroke the leopards (If you dare!).
The “footnotes” are details about the leopards, in a different font on the relevant page of the book, so that the reader has good quality information to support the simple story – telling us more about the mysterious creature. For instance, I had no idea snow leopards sang in the moonlight – did you? The final spread of the book is devoted to a page of information about snow leopards, where you find more information about them and that ever important short index making the book useful and accessible for information retrieval. A useful and beautiful book.
A spellbinding new Nature Storybook about one of the most beautiful creatures in the world, with words by Planet Earth producer Justin Anderson and pictures by award-winning Patrick Benson. "Something moves in the rocks ahead. My hands start to tremble. My heart is beating fast. There, just a few footsteps away, is a snow leopard…" Join us on a journey high into the snowy peaks of the Himalaya, and discover the secret world of a rare and utterly majestic creature – how it has adapted to the harsh environment it lives in and how it looks after its young. Complete with an index and a conservation note, this is a wonderful addition to the series and the debut of an exciting new voice in non-fiction writing for children.