"We risk losing all this magnificence before we begin to understand it," writes Katherine Rundell in Vanishing Treasures. In her bestiary of extraordinary endangered creatures, Rundell, an award-winning children's author, reveals wonders of the world that humans might still be able to protect. She illuminates this collection of essays with fable, legend, myth, and truth stranger than fiction, passionately arguing that as "we have lost more than half of all wild things that lived.... The time to fight, with all our ingenuity and tenacity, and love and fury, is now."
Rundell shines a light on 23 creatures, familiar and not, from land, under the sea, and in the air. She finds wonder and inspiration in wombats and raccoons, as well as primordial Greenland sharks and iridescent golden moles. Furthermore, she traces the incredible feats of evolution, the survivorship, and the adaptability that have kept these creatures alive in an ever more aggressive and changing world. She describes how each animal has been in some way a part of the human imagination, such as how seals are woven into stories about mermaids and selkies; the hypotheses about how hedgehogs might carry fruit by sticking it onto their spikes; and how wolves have haunted our fears and fantasies, taking root in the fairy-tale forests of our minds.
The last entry is "The Human," hammering home how people are part of the marvels of the world, and the only ones who can actively do something to stop these "treasures" from vanishing off the face of the earth. Rundell urges everyone to think about what has already been lost and to use that as a call to action, writing that "the greatest lie that humans ever told is that the Earth is ours, and at our disposal.... We must cease from telling that lie because the world is so rare, and so wildly fine.... So much can still be saved."
In her author's note, Rundell follows up her call to action with steps that individuals can take to be part of an effort in saving these--and other creatures--which include voting and changing consumption behaviors. Although it is a sobering glimpse at the destruction humanity has wrought on other living things, Vanishing Treasures is ultimately an uplifting and inspiring exploration of the wonder left in the world and how humanity can fit within it, and add to its extraordinary quality. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer
Shelf Talker: In Vanishing Creatures, Katherine Rundell shines a light on what we all stand to lose if humans don't start to take better care of the world that we are all a part of.