Customer Reviews

Panda Cam: A Nation Watches Tai Shan the Panda Cub Grow

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This is definitely the book for those of us who spent the last year staring at "0026 HOLD" on our screens and watching Tai Shan and Mei Xiang but I am sure adults and children who like pandas will also love it. Like many people, I spent several hours every day watching Panda Cam from the first weeks when Mei Xiang cradled Tai Shan 24/7, to his early morning forays in Exhibit 3 last fall, to his adventures in the great outdoors and the surprise discovery that panda cubs routinely climb trees and nap in them for hours at a time.

One of my favorite Panda Cam moments came late one night in mid-January when Tai Shan slipped headfirst between his mother and one of the walls of the dry pond in Exhibit 2 and then couldn't get back up -- all you saw were his little back feet and legs waving in the air. After a few minutes of this Mei Xiang obligingly moved over so he could free himself.

Back to the book: the photographs are wonderful and there are many here that have never appeared at the website (nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/). The book is arranged with a photograph on the left accompanied by, in most cases, sections of diary entries from the past year. I really enjoyed reading these again but I do wish they had included a date with each entry so you have an idea of how old Tai Shan is in each picture. I also liked that they included information on the web campaign to name the baby bear "Butterstick" and to promote "Stickmas" to celebrate his birthday every year but I was disappointed they didn't attribute this to Wonkette where it originated. And I wished they had included a picture of Tai Shan just after he was born, back when he was still in his "Butterstick" phase.

One really cool thing about the book is that there is a small photograph of Tai Shan on the bottom corner of each right-hand page so you can use it as a "flipbook" -- if you hold the book so that you flip very fast through the pages back to front, you will see a little animated Tai Shan doing somersaults!

PS: Mei Xiang and Tai Shan are on the cover of the July 2006 "National Geographic" which features an article about them and the pandas at the Wolong Nature Reserve's Giant Panda Research Center in Chengdu China. (rissa@panix.com)

This book is a good collection of photos of the first year of the new panda cub at the Washington Zoo. It is especially useful for those interested in pandas who have not seen them and want to get a sense of the behaviors and expressions of a young panda cub.

This is a wonderful book for those people to get to see the first seven months of Tai Shan's life as it was actually recorded on the National Zoo Panda Cam. Tai Shan, whose name means "peaceful mountain" in Chinese is a must see attraction for people when they come to Washington

If you are looking for cute pictures of Tain Shan's first months, here you find them. Simply the cutest pictures ever!

I purchased this book for my 10 year old daughter who loves Panda Bears. She received it for Christmas as part of a larger, theme gift of an Adopt-A-Panda Certificate and Plush from the National Zoo and a panda video. I wrapped them all together and she was thrilled. She is still reading and enjoying this delightful book as is her younger, eight year old sister.