Horn Book

In 1996, a wildlife photographer working on the island of Tasmania first spotted several Tasmanian devils with large, cancerous tumors on their faces. Just eight years later, scientists projected that this fast-spreading disease, almost one-hundred percent fatal, was propelling the world’s devil population toward rapid extinc¬tion, prompting the Australian and Tasmanian governments to initiate a breeding program and scientists to find a way to stop the disease. Veteran nonfiction author Patent (The Call of the Osprey, rev. 7/15; Made for Each Other) traveled to Tasma¬nia to chronicle the attempts to save the devils. She follows the research of a vari¬ety of scientists, including a geneticist, a cancer researcher, and a naturalist. After explaining the situation and outlining the causes of the disease (with particularly clear diagrams and photographs of chromosome abnormalities), Patent takes read-ers to several devil sanctuaries, nature preserves, and labs to observe the progress being made in both reintroduction programs and vaccines, carefully explaining their methodologies. With an overall narrative arc of discovering the eventual fate of the devils, she connects each site with information about the surrounding flora and fauna. Every visit concludes with a sidebar titled “What I Learned,” which encapsulates the main idea of that chapter. At press time, the outlook for the worldwide population of devils looks promising; readers of this concise study will know why. Appended with source notes, a glossary, and a list of further reading/ viewing resources.