Customer Reviews

The Snow Leopard

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I work for a wild cat sanctuary, have known a snow leopard, and this book truly captures their incredible above-the-world spirit. The story is as an old legend retold and the illustrations capture all the magic in the story.

This book is a must for your book shelf, whether you are a cat-lover or not, whether you have children or not, whether you are young or old. In our relentless pursuit of material pleasures and more, more, more, we are becoming increasingly alienated from the power and beauty of the natural world. This book ever so subtly promotes a compassionate relationship with the creatures of this earth, all the while subtly embracing the subject of species endangerment due to global warming. Beautiful illustrations and the language of myth bring the story alive.

This a beautifully illustrated story that should appeal to adults as well as children. We will be taking a copy to our grandson in the next week or so and will see if someone about to turn 5 years old can appreciate it. He will no doubt love the drawings; not sure about the story.

If Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the laughing book(as in my husband: "OK, it's time to put away the laughing book, now and go to sleep"),

then Snow Leopard is the crying book, or one of them. My mother recommends kids' books to explain spiritual subjects that always have me in tears.

For instance, Samsara Dog explains reincarnation, if that's what you want to have explained.

But The Snow Leopard is a bit of a shamanistic power-animal fantasy. It reminds me of a place like Tibet in the Himalayas, where a young girl is mentored by a big snow leopard.

When she has trained well, and it's time for the animal to move on, there is one last good-bye and it's a huge, beautiful water color of the girl and the cat nose-to-nose.

Very tearful but with the promise of strength and hope for the child's future, as well as for the spirit of the snow-cat.

Definitely if you or your kids like cats.

A feminist girl's book, if you want your kid to see how a girl becomes a Buddhist nun through martial arts, is Beautiful Warrior.

And there's a great book about how to make moving your home easier on the cat, which looks like a kids book but I really think it is almost more useful for adults,

because it shows in pictures how to make it more bearable for him/her. I'll have to find that one and get back with the title.

Like Lord of the Forest, The Snow Leopard is replete with gorgeous imagery that undulates from page to page, pulling you along its current. The tale is folk-mythic and quasi-poetic, again inspiring a love for nature and the wildlife in a spectacular ecosystem (the Himalayas). My daughter loves the fact that there is a child in the story who becomes friends with one of these big, beautiful cats. This is a book at which to marvel.

I think this is a beautiful story accompanied with beautiful pictures. Snow leopards are just awesome and I happen to love animals so this book seemed like a good choice. I saw it at the bookstore at the zoo and then read good reviews on Amazon. It is definitely a keeper. The story might be too long for younger readers, but the pictures are so great that you can skip some of the text. You can also add your own if your child is still in preschool (like mine) and might not understand why "soldiers are bad". That is the only part of the story that is a bit much for a younger crowd. The best part is the idea that the snow leopard has a special duty (to protect) and a limited time before it must choose another snow leopard to take it's place. It helps explain (in a magical way) the purpose people and in this case, animals, have on this earth and that there is a connection between them. Very good book.

I enjoyed the book and it is beautifully illustrated but my daughter (9) was not as thrilled with it.