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Overview
You are a Bengal tiger cub,
one of three — Dacca, Rajpur, Raniganj — abandoned by your mother.
You are so cold and thin that someone with kind hands puts you on a heating pad and sits by you for hours, moistening your mouth with milk.
When you give a weak cry and look up, there is a human face almost crying too.
Your new mother is Helen Delaney Martini, who has already raised a lion cub in her New York apartment. Tigers in the bathtub will be no problem for her and her husband, Fred.
This remarkable book — strikingly striped as tigers are, sympathetically spoken as any child could wish — tells the story of Helen Martini, founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery in 1944 and its first woman zookeeper.
Synopsis
You are a Bengal tiger cub,
one of three — Dacca, Rajpur, Raniganj — abandoned by your mother.
You are so cold and thin that someone with kind hands puts you on a heating pad and sits by you for hours, moistening your mouth with milk.
When you give a weak cry and look up, there is a human face almost crying too.
Your new mother is Helen Delaney Martini, who has already raised a lion cub in her New York apartment. Tigers in the bathtub will be no problem for her and her husband, Fred.
This remarkable book — strikingly striped as tigers are, sympathetically spoken as any child could wish — tells the story of Helen Martini, founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery in 1944 and its first woman zookeeper.
Publishers Weekly
Arresting art illuminates Lyon and Catalanotto's (previously teamed for Who Came Down That Road?) tribute to Helen Martini, founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery. On each spread, mixed-media images on torn-paper panels form jagged, vertical stripes around the white space that encloses the lyrical text, contributing to the drama and sense of urgency. Watercolor paintings are drenched in sunlight while charcoals and chalks on brown paper reinforce the 1940s context. A prefatory poem ("Suppose you were a lion cub-abandoned") will get readers' attention with its tale of a woman rearing a lion cub in a city apartment; the main story then backs up to describe Helen and her husband, who worked at the Bronx Zoo (he had been a jeweler until Helen urged him to "follow [his] heart/ and work at the Zoo"). A triptych of two giraffes, a pair of elephants and a polar bear swimming underwater make clear the irresistible hold the animals have on the couple. Her husband is the one who brings home the abandoned lion cub, which is to be the first of many young animals Helen tends before creating a nursery at the Zoo. "Starting out," says Lyon, Helen "didn't get paid/ but that wasn't what mattered./ She was following her heart." Although the follow-your-dream theme may be trumpeted a bit strongly, the story cannot miss its mark as animal lovers appreciate Helen's love for and commitment to saving nature's newest members. Ages 5-8. (Mar.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Arresting art illuminates Lyon and Catalanotto's (previously teamed for Who Came Down That Road?) tribute to Helen Martini, founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery. On each spread, mixed-media images on torn-paper panels form jagged, vertical stripes around the white space that encloses the lyrical text, contributing to the drama and sense of urgency. Watercolor paintings are drenched in sunlight while charcoals and chalks on brown paper reinforce the 1940s context. A prefatory poem ("Suppose you were a lion cub-abandoned") will get readers' attention with its tale of a woman rearing a lion cub in a city apartment; the main story then backs up to describe Helen and her husband, who worked at the Bronx Zoo (he had been a jeweler until Helen urged him to "follow [his] heart/ and work at the Zoo"). A triptych of two giraffes, a pair of elephants and a polar bear swimming underwater make clear the irresistible hold the animals have on the couple. Her husband is the one who brings home the abandoned lion cub, which is to be the first of many young animals Helen tends before creating a nursery at the Zoo. "Starting out," says Lyon, Helen "didn't get paid/ but that wasn't what mattered./ She was following her heart." Although the follow-your-dream theme may be trumpeted a bit strongly, the story cannot miss its mark as animal lovers appreciate Helen's love for and commitment to saving nature's newest members. Ages 5-8. (Mar.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Children's Literature
Based on a true story, this beautifully illustrated picture book introduces young readers to Helen Frances Theresa Delaney Martini, the first woman zookeeper at the Bronx Zoo and founder of the zoo's animal nursery in 1944. With carefully chosen text, the author gently tells Helen's story and describes how this dedicated, hard-working woman made a difference in the lives of several young animals. After convincing her husband, Fred, to get a job at the Bronx Zoo, Helen accepts his invitation to care for a small, sickly lion cub named MacArthur. Not long after, she takes on the challenging task of nursing a litter of three Bengal tigers back to health. When it becomes obvious to her that other zoo babies need special care, she decides to create a one-of-a-kind nursery at the Bronx Zoo. Over the years, she raises twenty-seven tigers and cares for a variety of young animals including yapoks, marmosets, gorillas, chimpanzees, deer, ring-tailed lemurs, lions, jaguars, and leopards. Catalanotto's remarkable illustrations are a wonderful combination of watercolor, charcoal and torn paper. The author also includes a fascinating "Author's Note" at the end of the book. This is the sixth picture book collaboration by this amazing author-artist team. Other books of note include Mama Is a Miner, Dreamplace, and Book. 2003, Atheneum Books for Young Readers,— Debra Briatico