Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Panda's Earthquake Escape

A great deal to learn about pandas from Pandas' Earthquake Escape!

Perry, Phyllis J.
Panda's Earthquake Escape.
February 2010.
Sylvan Dell Publishing.
Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.

Perry attempts to recreate the events of the May 12, 2008 earthquake in Northern China, as she shares the story of two fictitious pandas, Tengfei and his mother, Liling. The two pandas are resting in a bamboo tree, when suddenly the earth begins to shake, disrupting their lives in ways that are hard for children to imagine. However, Perry makes the events of the earthquake easy for children to understand, as she shares how the earthquake disrupts their habitat, ways of protection, and methods of survival, including finding food to eat. However, as motherly instinct kicks in, Liling goes to all ends to keep little Tengfei protected (including food and shelter) as the two wait out the earthquake and are eventually returned to the reservation in which they had previously been living.

Children will love the story of courageous Liling and her panda cub, Tengfei. There is a whole wealth of knowledge to be learned about pandas in this story, while also depicting an accurate portrayal of an actual earthquake and the impact it had on panda wildlife.

Learning/Reading Activity:
  • As with the other books published, Sylvan Dell has again provided a Teaching Activities packet to be used in collaboration with this story. My personal favorite activity was the sequencing strips that could be found on page 14 of the packet, as I felt the story is ideal to be used as a comprehension activity with children as young as my preschoolers! However, there is a whole wealth of other activities inside that are definitely wonderful, as well!


If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

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