When the Animals Saved Earth

February 23, 2015
Lumbard and Demi, who previously collaborated on The Conference of the Birds, team up again to retell a 10th-century Iraqi fable first written in Arabic. After traveling to 14th-century Europe, where it was translated into Hebrew and Latin, the fable remained popular in Jewish communities until the early 20th century, Lumbard explains in an author’s note. In this rendering, animals “winged and webbed, hoofed and horned, mighty and meek” live peacefully together in an island community. The arrival of humans aboard an ark—suggestive of the biblical one—changes everything. Humans assault the Earth and enslave the animals until a boy named Adam calls for help from the Spirit King, Bersaf. Endowed with angelic wings and bearing a shining staff, Bersaf teaches humans to become compassionate by bearing the pain the animals feel. In the end, harmony is restored and healing begins. As usual, Demi shines in her richly detailed portrayal of animals. The polarized portrayal of humans as bad and animals as good could raise questions about human intentions toward the Earth, though that nuance may be lost on youngest readers. Ages 5–up. (Apr.)■

February 15, 2015
In this version of an ancient but topical tale first recorded in 10th-century Iraq, abused animals and the heedless humans who afflict them argue their cases before a celestial judge.The "winged and webbed, hoofed and horned" creatures of Emerald Isle live in peace until people arrive to cut down the trees for homes and to hunt the animals for food and luxuries. Finally, the remaining animals summon their Spirit King, Bersaf, to call on the humans to answer for their acts. The humans respond first with blank denial, then a claim that they're only bringing order to wild nature, and finally just bluster. When the animals effectively counter each of these arguments, Bersaf rules that henceforth the humans shall feel the animals' pain in their own hearts. This establishes a "hopeful peace" on the island...which is called Earth. Lumbard adds a loving lad named Adam to the original as a stand-in for young readers and also has Bersaf speak (usually) in lumbering verse: "O human folk, please answer now / This charge of rule by fear. / The beasts say you do great harm / Throughout my Emerald Sphere." In a rare departure from Demi's usual reverent or gently humorous spirituality, the illustrations include gory views of whipped animals and dripping meat hanging in a butcher's stall interspersed with more typical scenes of delicately drawn figures floating gracefully in diaphanous settings. Some explicit brutality in the pictures adds sobering notes to this pointed fable. (source note) (Picture book/folk tale. 6-9)

August 1, 2015

Gr 1-3-This Iraqi-Hebraic folktale picture book tells the story of a group of animals who fall victim to greedy humans. The creatures of the Emerald Isle live together peacefully until humankind arrives, cutting down trees and killing and enslaving the beasts. One honorable youth teams up with the animals, successfully petitioning wise King Bersaf to help the humans see the errors of their ways. The strong text effectively describes the devastation and horror that people wreak upon the island. However, Demi's illustrations, with their soft, dainty pastel-colored backgrounds, don't match the tone of the writing. Where the text calls for denuded landscape, the art portrays hardworking people shaping logs and building homes, and the animals look just as healthy and plump as before the advent of man. Demi acknowledges the violence of this tale in a couple of scenes, such as a spread depicting a marketplace, where bloody cuts of meat are up for sale. Overall, though, the artist errs on the side of keeping the story suitable for a young audience. VERDICT Unless kids are encouraged to pick this one up, this book will be a shelf sitter.-Nancy Call, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Aptos, CA

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