Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal

Fourteen-year-old Mateo and other Caribbean islanders face discrimination, segregation, and harsh working conditions when American recruiters lure them to the Panamanian rain forest in 1906 to build the great canal.

Jazzy In The Jungle

Jazzy the lemur and Mama JoJo love to play hide-and-seek in the jungle. As little readers help search for Jazzy – lured by die-cut windows showing glimpses of what’s to come-they also explore a bold new world full of vivid tropical colors and lively jungle creatures. Featuring an all-new format, this innovative, thirty-two-page picture book boasts three sections – each with shaped, die-cut pages – and offers a double gatefold at the end to encompass all the animals of the jungle. Behind a final flap, Mama JoJo says to Jazzy, “Found you, Baby Jazzy,” and Jazzy answers back, “I love you, Mama JoJo.” Bravo to Lucy Cousins!

The Tapir Scientist

If you’ve never seen a lowland tapir, you’re not alone. Most of the people who live near tapir habitat in Brazil’s vast Pantanal (“the Everglades on steroids”) haven’t seen the elusive snorkel-snouted mammal, either. In this nonfiction picturebook, Sibert winners Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop join a tapir-finding expedition led by the Brazilian field scientist Pati Medici.

Hide & Seek

As the light shines through the leaves of the forest, the animals gather for a game of hide-and-seek.  Elephant counts as all the animals run and hide!  But when it’s time to seek, will Elephant find everyone…including Chameleon?  Practice counting from 1 to 10 and search for Chameleon in the pages of this delightful new book from celebrated illustrator Il Sung Na.

Nowhere Else On Earth

You don’t have to live in the Great Bear Rainforest to benefit from its existence, but after you read Nowhere Else on Earth you might want to visit this magnificent part of the planet. Environmental activist Caitlyn Vernon guides young readers through a forest of information, sharing her personal stories, her knowledge and her concern for this beautiful place. Full of breathtaking photographs and suggestions for ways to preserve this unique ecosystem, Nowhere Else on Earth is a timely and inspiring reminder that we need to stand up for our wild places before they are gone.

Visit http://www.greatbearrainforest.ca to find teacher and student resources, view the online photo gallery, or read a sample chapter from the book. To access the free teacher’s guide for Nowhere Else on Earth, click here:http://orcabook.com/nowhereelseonearth/guides/teachersguide.pdf.

Blood Sun

Desperate to uncover the secret of his mother’s death, fifteen-year-old Max Gordon, pursued by enemies, travels from the bleakness of Dartmoor to the rainforest of Central America, where the environmental devastation hides a sinister secret.

Explorers: Rainforests

Readers can dive into one of the most biologically diverse environments in the world, and explore the plants, animals, and people of the rainforest through a series of story scenes designed to highlight key topics in rainforest education. From the towering trees, to life in the canopy, dwelling in the dark on the forest floor, and the role the river plays in the rainforest environment.

Tales Of the Amazon: How the Munduruku Indians Live

A member of a local Amazon tribe takes readers deep into the heart of Brazil in this lavish picture book. First, we meet a young Munduruku boy and discover how he is trained in the sacred ways of a shaman. In the second part, the author recounts his journey to the city after growing up among the trees and animals of the jungle, describing what he found there and how the people he met treated him. Part three offers a portrait of Amazonian culture – how they live, their legends, and their language.