The Lady and the Panda

Ruth Harkness gained fame as the first captor of a giant panda in 1936. Her entertaining life's story comes with valuable insight into the panda's continuing struggle for survival in a diminishing habitat. Living in a time when most women were restricted to housework, Harkness achieved success as an explorer, but her personal life was one of depression and alcoholism. Lorna Raver's genteel matriarchal voice never hurries nor misses a single syllable. She adds pleasant expression and modulation to her narration, making herself sound more like an animated storyteller than a reader. The clarity and simplicity of her audio production would recommend it for young readers and students of English. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

January 15, 2006
When Ruth Harkness was prematurely widowed in the 1930s, she decided to continue her late husband's quest to obtain a giant panda from China. She used her meager inheritance, wrote many letters, and kept meticulous notes about her adventure, which Croke uses to capture brilliantly a very different America as well as the spirituality of China. In the deepening darkness along the river, she spotted a reed hut in the distance. It blended earth, sky, and water with only a point of light showing through the structure and a wisp of smoke to make you know it was home to someone. The little light kindled a longing and a feeling of nostalgia for something unknown. Croke's splendid writing is beautifully retold by Lorna Raver, whose performance is suffused with humor, sympathy, and feelings that sometimes cannot be conveyed by words. Best of all, the listener learns about pandas, who might owe their continued existence to the strength and integrity of the tragic Harkness. A glimpse at a very unusual subject, time, and place; all libraries should add it to their collections.Susan G. Baird, Chicago

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.