Operation Pangolin: saving the world’s only scaled mammal by Suzi Eszterhas - ADVISABLE

Operation Pangolin: saving the world’s only scaled mammal by Suzi Eszterhas, 37 pages. NON-FICTION. Millbrook Press (Lerner), 2023. $31 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

While pangolins are exotic to us in the United States, all over Asia and Africa over 100,000 of them are killed each year for their rare meat and supposed medicinal properties. Thai, a Vietnamese scientist, has been working since he was a child to learn about and save the pangolin. 

Eszterhas takes us into Thai’s world to give us what little we know about pangolins and show us the few ways scientists are trying to save them from extinction. Beautiful color photographs accompany the dense text – definitely not a picture book. 

 Cindy Mitchell, Library Teacher, MLS