Sci-Fi & Scary

To start with, the fact that the lion population in that area was reduced to just one is absolutely horrific. The fact that it was able to bounce back from that? Absolutely amazing. It's one of those deals where I'm ashamed of the human race and proud of them by turns. Rise of the Lioness is a well-told true story of the comeback of the Liuwa plains. It particularly focuses on Lady, who was the last surviving lion in the region for entirely too long.

Rise of the Lioness does a great job of bringing home the devastation that can occur in a region in a relatively short period of time. It communicates well how difficult it is to fix a region once its food web has been partially destroyed. It holds true to the saying that its much easier to destroy than it is to create. The information is written in a way to be easy to understood by ages 10-13 (grades 5-8), but it's still interesting to adults too. I knew that human beings could wreck havoc on an area, but I didn't understand exactly how complicated the destruction that they caused actually was. I'll admit, I thought that if you just took all the people that were causing trouble away, everything would eventually fix itself. This book showed me how wrong that was.

The pictures chosen for the book are absolutely gorgeous. There's one particular photo that even makes hyenas look kind of cute! My favorite one was probably of Nakawa and his brother. It's a wonderful picture that makes you feel content and hopeful the longer you look at it. It is very well-placed in the book for more than one reason. The headings are eye-catching, the color schemed deliberate and effective. Overall, Rise of the Lioness is - whilst not exactly amazing - a very effective educational book that will make kids and adults think for a long while after they've read it.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from National Geographic Kids in exchange for an honest review.