Can We Share the World with Tigers?

Written and Illustrated by Robert E. Wells

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Everyone, even the youngest of readers have heard of tigers. The author wisely uses the tiger as a vehicle to present important conservation-related issues.

We read that the Bengal tiger is in danger of becoming extinct, but falling prey to poachers is not the only reason that they are in danger. Their natural habitat (and that of their prey) is being destroyed to make way for farms and ranches. More than 90% of their original habitat, an astonishing number, has been destroyed.

The author traces the two chief causes of habitat destruction: lifestyle change, and population growth. This information is presented in a vertical format, allowing the pages to be put up on the wall as an easily-comprehensible chart. Children can trace the changes as they read down the page. The pictorial representation of the swift population growth will leave the reader awed.

There are other causes of habitat destruction and the book presents them all: environmental pollution, climate change, overharvesting and invasive species. The illustrations complement the text. A two-page spread of rabbits certainly demonstrates how they could eat a native species to extinction.

There are two more vertical presentations. The second chart illustrates mass extinctions through time, and is drawn as a height and growth chart that would be easily recognizable to third grade readers.

The book ends with a call for help to make Earth balanced and sustainable. The third vertical chart creates a stack of boxes, each containing one helpful idea. This can be an easy reading activity: the teacher asks each child to choose a box, and work on the instruction. The readers learn that yes, if we each do our share, we can leave some room for tigers.

Additional Activities:
About the Bengal tiger: http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-bytes/animalia/eumetazoa/coelomates/deuterostomes/chordata/craniata/mammalia/carnivora/bengal-tiger.htm
Write a letter to a lion: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/activities/letters-to-lions/
A tiger bath time, video: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/tiger/

  • TigersTitle: Can We Share The World With Tigers?
  • Author: Robert E. Wells
  • Illustrator: Robert E. Wells
  • Publisher: Albert Whitman and Company
  • Reviewer: Anjali Amit
  • Hardcover: 32 Pages
  • ISBN: 978-0-8075-1055-1
  • Genre: Non-fiction Environmental
  • Lexile Score: 730

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