Our children need to find their voices. Our children need to know they can make a difference in this world. Our children need to know that everyone needs a dream and needs to aim for that dream to come true no matter how long it takes.
This young lady has a dream. She dreams of seeing a puma. She lives with her grandmother out on a ranch and her grandmother tells her that her dream is a long-dream because it may never happen. It may never happen but that doesn't stop the girl from buying a 50 pound salt lick and taking it out to the fields to place it where a puma just might come upon it.
Months pass. Lots of different types of animals come and leave their lick prints on that salt lick. But no puma shows its face. After a rain there are cat tracks in the mud on the road. Those cat tracks are as big as the girl's hand. That's a puma. A puma got that close.
Time passes. No puma. Then, one morning.... one morning while the girl is eating her cereal her skin begins to prickle.
Do dreams really come true? Isn't it wonderful to imagine that they do?
With the gorgeous light of Jim LaMarche's beautiful illustrations this book shines and lifts every reader to a place where dreams can come true. This is a celebration of our natural world and a celebration of a grandmother's love and a celebration of deciding to dream a long-dream even if it might never come true. Most of all this is a celebration of the elusive puma who is now endangered by the encroachment of human beings.
Can we save the puma? Is that a long-dream? Back matter is provide to offer any child the chance to make a difference.
48 pages 978-1534429796 Ages 4-8
Keywords: nature, endangered animals, dreams, perseverance, hope, role of the individual, power of the individual, puma, big cats, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
For another book about a puma: GHOST HANDS by T.A.Barron
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From award-winning duo Tony Johnston and Jim LaMarche comes a stunning, lyrical picture book about a girl’s desire to see an elusive California puma in the wild that includes interesting facts about this beautiful and threatened animal.
A girl visiting her grandmother longs for a glimpse of the solitary and rarely seen puma. Her grandmother tells her that if she’s patient, one day her wish will come true. But patience is hard, the girl thinks. So, the girl and her grandmother stand watch each day, and then finally, without warning, she sees the beautiful animal from afar. Knowing she may never see a puma again, she now knows it’s everyone’s responsibility to protect these increasingly threatened animals.
