Introducing Poco Returns to the Wild!

I am ecstatic to share my new children’s picture book with you! The first picture book I have both written and illustrated, Poco Returns to the Wild has been in the making for almost seven years.

Poco Returns to the Wild is an educational children’s picture book with a wildlife conservation message at its heart. I wrote the story to inspire young conservationists and share an important message about the role of zoos in animal conservation.

The heartwarming rhyming picture book follows the adventures of Poco the monkey and Zookeeper Amélie as they embark on a journey to return Poco from the zoo to his family in the rainforest. As they venture into the jungle, the pair encounter a cast of curious (but wildly unhelpful!) jungle animals.

Poco and Amélie’s quest is a tale of friendship, resilience and the beauty of the natural world. The picture book is told through effortlessly bouncing rhyme and is a joy to read aloud.

Who is the Book for?

A rhyming children’s picture book about animals with a heartwarming story and beautiful illustrations, Poco Returns to the Wild is the perfect picture book for 3 to 7 year olds. I recommend it as a rhyming book for reception and KS1, but it is suitable for all young children who love books about animals and nature.

The rhyming story is a joy to read aloud as children follow the adventure through colourful, bold illustrations. I might be biased, but I think the picture book makes a great gift for all animal-loving kids!

An Educational Children’s Picture Book

Browsing picture books about zoos, you would be forgiven for thinking that zoos are mostly about bums, parps and poop. There are lots of fun children’s picture books about the zoo, but none of them seem to acknowledge the vital roles zoos play in saving the environment.

Zoos have many important roles – including education and simply giving people the opportunity to connect with incredible animals in a safe environment – but one of the main benefits of zoos is their involvement in breeding programmes, where they house animals with the aim of one day reintroducing them into the wild.

Visiting the zoo is an exciting and memorable day out for all young children and I think it is important for children to know that the animals aren’t just there for our entertainment. Zoos undertake (and provide vital funding support for) so much brilliant conservation work.

Together, zoos have saved many endangered animals from extinction – including Poco’s species: the golden lion tamarin.

The Golden Lion Tamarin’s Story

Poco is a golden lion tamarin. As you will learn in the educational page at the back of the picture book, golden lion tamarins are endangered monkeys from the Atlantic Rainforest (near the Amazon Rainforest) in Brazil, South America. The Atlantic Forest hugs the Brazilian coastline and has suffered immensely from deforestation.

The remnants of the forest are hugely important for biodiversity – the forest, which is tiny in comparison to the Amazon Rainforest, is home to a whopping 7% of the world’s species. Eighteen of Brazil’s 77 monkey species are only found in the Atlantic Forest.

Like other animals in the rainforest, golden lion tamarins struggled as their habitat was increasingly cut down and fragmented. There were fewer than 200 golden lion tamarins in the wild before zoos began breeding the monkeys in captivity. The breeding programme was an incredibly collaborative project, which began in the 1970s and involved some 43 zoos around the world.

Between 1984 and 2000, 146 monkeys were reintroduced from zoos to the rainforest. Thanks to the breeding programme, alongside research and the development of education programmes and protected areas in the wild, the conservation status of golden lion tamarins has since changed from Critically Endangered to Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Today, there are around 2,500 monkeys in the wild.

Last words

I hope the little ones in your life love the story, and you enjoy reading Poco Returns to the Wild as a bedtime storuy as much as I do! Thank you for reading and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions, requests, or would like to share your (or your little one’s) feedback on the picture book!

Get Your Copy of Poco Returns to the Wild

If you’re interested in the process, you can learn more about the makings of Poco Returns to the Wild in my upcoming blog posts. Check out Q&A with the creator to find out more.