Publisher's Synopsis
Fourteen animals around the world are on a journey for survival when climate change displaces them to bizarre new habitats in this captivating interpretive photo illustration picture book.
Based in science, the book provides young readers a fantastical interpretation of climate change and the risks that global animals would face in an imagined future.
What would happen to animals around the world when climate change threatens the habitat that they know and depend on? Beautiful photomontages and brief stories about fourteen animals that become displaced due to climate change will intrigue and inform young readers in the thought-provoking Displaced: A Story About Climate Change and How Displaced Animals Ring the Alarm, a blended nonfiction and fiction photo-illustrated book from environmental artist, photographer, and author Ronnie Swire Siegel depicting a fantastical future where animals' natural environments become unlivable for them.
In Displaced, each story begins with a very short description of the animal's habitat and illuminates why their current home is at risk. Environmental issues resulting from climate change particular to their habitat cause major havoc in different ways.
Based in science but with a clear departure to a fantasy reality, author Siegel helps readers to imagine what could happen if climate change is left unchecked: extinction of a species or relocation and adaptation to a new and different environment in order to survive. For polar bears, Siegel's surreal future shows these beautiful Arctic animals displaced to Mongolia.
"As the ice melts everywhere, the polar bears leave by leaping iceberg to iceberg, as they melt. They soon run out of icebergs on which to leap and learn to live on land all year long. Their thick heavy fur coats are very uncomfortable in their new life on hot sand. They really miss the icy waters and all the seafood they could eat in the Arctic Circle."
There is a hopeful and positive conclusion to this book that is based in stark reality but cushioned in whimsical fantasy. Its content is intended to evoke action to lessen climate change and inform the reader about our responsibility as global citizens and good stewards of the earth and all its inhabitants. Young readers will end the book with an optimistic prediction that, with attention and action, we can work together to reverse the course of climate change to make our world enduring for all creatures.
This imaginative and evocative tale is the first in a new series of blended fiction and nonfiction books for young and older readers from Siegel, bringing awareness to the global issue of climate change that we face today. The unique format of Siegel's captivating and wildly imaginative photomontages, will promote and encourage a dialogue at home and in the classroom about what climate change is and what we can do to end its disruption from the normal order of things on earth. There is a section at the end of the book for parents, teachers, and older children, providing a summary of facts to help answer questions from children about climate change
