Animal Explorers: Lola the Plant Hunter

This is rather charming non-fiction book. Sharon Rentta has both written and illustrated the series and has included the biographies of famous real life plant hunters at the end which was really interesting.

A polar bear in the Amazon jungle is obviously a slightly unusual but this picture book is full of colour and joy with lively illustrations and plenty of other animals to entertain us. The story starts off in Lola, the Polar Bear’s usual habitat. Her grandad inspires her to follow her dreams and go on an adventure when they spy a flower growing in the snow when spring has sprung. Her grandad tells her about the singing orchid and Lola sets off to find it for her grandad.

She is a very spirited bear and with her small rucksack and canoe manages to make it up the Amazon River to explore a new setting. The book is full of foliage like the rainforest but there are also smaller drawings, annotated, like an explorer’s diary which adds to the feel of the book. A bit of a calamity befalls Lola but, with her new jungle friends, she is able to survive and complete her adventure.

Rentta uses great vocabulary throughout and the book is great to read out loud. Animal Explorers is the first in the series with Animal Doctors and Animal Railways to come but I’m sure the rest will prove equally popular with lots of different aged children.