Lili: A Giant Panda of Sichuan

by Robert M. McClung, Irene Brady (Illustrator)

Follows the first several years of a female giant panda in the Chinese province of Sichuan and presents historical commentary on human being's relationship with pandas

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at my local library because I saw it was illustrated by Irene Brady, illustrator and author of one of my favorite books, A Horse Named Doodlebug. She is a gifted black and white illustrator with a soft touch to her photo realism. I was suitably impressed with the illustrations, such as the cover.



There is one rather horrific illustration of a large weasel running off with a crying baby panda in its mouth. We learn in the text that the weasel kills and eats the baby panda. This might not cause nightmares in a kid, but it sure does in a 50 year old woman like me. So be warned.

The text has little to be desired. It's dry and seriously outdated. For example, the panda population has increased since this book was written. Also, there used to be a big debate over whether pandas were bears or really large raccoons. This debate is mentioned in the book, even to the point of referring to pandas as "bear-like". We know now through work with panda DNA that pandas are bears.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being my favorite animal does make me biased but this is the first McClung title I've read. The illustrations are SO beautiful! I enjoyed learning more about panda behavior. About halfway through as I kept trying to read it my 3 year old asked me to read it to him. The 9 year old quickly came over as well and the rest was read aloud. It lent itself well to it. I was really surprised because my 3 year old often wants group read aloud to stop but he kept asking me to pause and wait for him and seemed engaged with the text. 8 short chapters, often 6-7 pages long.