Learning to Be Wild (A Young Reader's Adaptation): How Animals Achieve Peace, Create Beauty, and Raise Families

by Carl Safina

Overview

From New York Times-bestselling author Carl Safina comes Learning to Be Wild, a young readers adaptation of the notable book Becoming Wild that explores community, culture, and belonging through the lives of chimpanzees, macaws, and sperm whales.

What do chimpanzees, macaws, and whales all have in common?

Some believe that culture is strictly a human phenomenon. But that's not true! Culture is passed down from parent to child in all sorts of animal communities. It is the common ground that three very different animals - chimpanzees, macaws, and whales - share.

Discover through the lives of chimpanzees in Uganda, scarlet macaws in Peru, and sperm whales in the Caribbean how they - and we - are all connected, in this wonderous journey around the globe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250838254
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	08/22/2023
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	442,909
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	940L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Carl Safina is the recipient of a MacArthur Genius prize and a Guggenheim fellowship, among other accolades. He hosted the PBS series Saving the Ocean and his writings have appeared in The New York Times, Time, and Audubon. His books include Voyage of the Turtle, Becoming Wild, and The View from Lazy Point. He lives on Long Island, New York, with his wife, their dogs, and feathered friends.

Editorial Reviews

★ "A well-crafted adaptation offering an extraordinary look at animal worlds." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Will be of great interest to conservationists who care about life on planet Earth." - Booklist

"Scientists-in-the-making will enjoy this glimpse into future possibilities." - School Library Journal

A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year

From the Publisher

10/01/2023

Gr 6 Up—Some things are inherited from generation to generation, like genes. Other things are learned by culture. Every group has a culture, be it humans, chimpanzees, macaws, or sperm whales. Adapted from ecologist Safina's Becoming Wild, this book is divided into the same three parts, but presented in a different order: Achieving Peace, Creating Beauty, and Raising Families. The short, direct sentences intersperse Safina's travels with research, which allows for smooth, easy-to-follow reading. The case for protecting animals—and their cultures—is strong throughout the text, as Safina demonstrates what is lost when culture is threatened or disappears altogether. Animal-loving readers will enjoy the storytelling and photographs that bring further life to the people and creatures introduced in the book. However, there are some missed opportunities to make the text more relatable to a younger audience. Analogies such as "a pressure cooker waiting to explode" or lamenting a time before the information age, something digital natives might not grasp, may alienate some of the intended audience. The lack of back matter or suggested reading might make it a difficult sell as a research aide for students. VERDICT Scientists-in-the-making will enjoy this glimpse into future possibilities.—Elissa Cooper

School Library Journal

★ 2023-05-24
Chimpanzees, scarlet macaws, and sperm whales all have cultures worthy of respect.

Science writer Safina investigates social learning to prove that animals, like humans, have cultures—they learn how to be who they are. Learned cultures provide skills, identity, a sense of belonging, and traditions. He describes chimps learning ways to survive and make peace within their communities, macaws learning where and how to forage, and sperm whales growing up and thriving in family groups. In Uganda, the Peruvian Amazon, and Dominica, the author joins scientists studying each of these species. His observations are fascinating, full of vignettes about individual animals and information about their behaviors. This is a genuine revision for younger readers of his adult title Becoming Wild (2020), a reframing that is less political and philosophical and more focused on the animals and their intriguing behaviors than on the many, many threats they face. The immediacy and detail of these observations bring readers right into the experience of field science. Most thought-provoking, perhaps, are Safina’s explanation of culture and his observation that, “without some original innovator...there is no knowledge, skill or tradition that could get shared; no culture to copy and conform to.” Black-and-white photographs of the scientists and their subjects are interspersed throughout the text.

A well-crafted adaptation offering an extraordinary look at animal worlds. (bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-16)

Kirkus Reviews