The Emerald Forest

Gorgeously illustrated with the jewel-bright colours of the Sumatran rain forest, this picture book carries a powerful message about the plight of the orangutans that live there, while providing hope for the future. The story’s focus is Orangutan, who lives in a forest ‘bursting with life’. We see her with her family, teaching the young orangutans what to eat, how to swing through the trees. It’s an idyllic life, even after men’s activities – implied, not described outright – force the family to move. As adults will expect, it’s not long before the family are forced from their home again as loggers chop down the trees, the images changing suddenly from green and orange to nightmarish landscapes of purple and black. Orangutan and her family are rescued by a young woman, who leads the family to safety, the little group hand in hand. We discover she is a warden for the National Park. The final pages show paradise restored, the family happily settled and safe in their new home, and the last line opens the possibility that maybe, one day, the forest will be restored in full. The story is simple, and more effective for that, allowing the images to convey the extraordinary beauty of the orangutan’s habitat, the quiet joy of their lifestyle, and the terrifying destruction wrought by mankind. Final pages include information about orangutans, the threats to them and what young readers can do to help.