"With clearly written text, detailed and well-produced photographs and helpful maps and charts...should be welcome in high-school as well as middle-school libraries." Kirkus, Starred 9/15/07 Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"Carson provides fascinating detail...color photographs featuring Roth at work are upstaged only by those of the rhinos themselves..." The Horn Book, Nov/Dec 2007 Horn Book
The text is ful of important details, and the photographs are unfailingly crisp, bright, and full of variety." SLJ November 2007 School Library Journal
"Pair this with other animal titles...and make sure kids get a chance to view Emi real-time on the zoo's webcam." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"This latest in the Scientists in the Field series has all the elements of top-notch nonfiction." Booklist 12/1/07 Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
"An engaging new volume." The Washington Post 12/08/07 The Washington Post
Wilde Award Winner - Best Nonfiction
News and Observer, December 16, 2007 News and Observer
This is a super book for readers contemplating a career working with animals. On its elegantly designed pages, they will meet Terri Roth, who directs a center for breeding endangered species at the Cincinnati Zoo, and especially Emi and Ipuh, two extremely rare, hairy Sumatran rhinos. Future scientists can follow Emi’s struggle to become pregnant, Terri’s expert guidance, and the exciting birth of the first Sumatran rhino calf born in captivity since 1889. Other chapters offer information and stunning color photos of four other rhino species in the wild, the science and patience needed to save endangered species, and endearing pictures of Andalas, Emi’s calf, as he grows and develops (Emi and Ipuh later have a female calf, Suci). A final chapter makes it clear that saving wild rhinos from poachers and habitat loss is a critical task, as Terri travels to Sumatra to observe a rhino in the wild, meet Rhino Protection rangers, and visit a rhino sanctuary in an Indonesian national park. A “Rhino Field Guide” provides some basic facts about each of the five species and maps of their much-reduced ranges in Asia and Africa. Following are a substantial glossary, an index, and a list of helpful books and web sites. With its wealth of information and sharply reproduced photographs, its emphasis on science, and a true sense of affection and wonder for the rare and intriguing rhinoceros, this book is a treasure right down to its glossy paper and beautiful endpapers. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft
Gr 5-8 Through lively prose and stunning full-color photographs, readers learn how Terri Roth, an expert in endangered-species reproduction at the Cincinnati Zoo, helped Emi to give birth to the first Sumatran rhino born in captivity in more than 100 years. One of five rhino species, the Sumatran rhino is relatively tiny (3 to 5 feet tall, weighing from 1300 to 2000 pounds) compared to the other species (ranging from 4.5 to 6.5 feet and weighing from 1700 to 6000 pounds). Illustrations superimposed on a world map show their differing appearances from Africa to India to Asia. The text is full of important details, and the photographs are unfailingly crisp, bright, and full of variety. Reproductive biology and breeding with human assistance are explained as are the conservation and environmental issues impacting rhino survival in the wild. Like many of the entries in this popular series, Emi is engaging and informative.-Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
Working in the Cincinnati Zoo as part of a worldwide effort to support endangered animals, scientist Terri Roth succeeds in helping a pair of Sumatran rhinos reproduce, using techniques that can be used to help other rhinoceroses both in captivity and, indirectly, in the wild. Woven into the saga of Emi, Ipuh and their progeny is a thorough introduction to this intriguing mammal, which is, next to elephants, the largest land animal in the world. With clearly written text, detailed and well-reproduced photographs and helpful maps and charts, Carson and Uhlman describe the five rhinoceros varieties in the world today, including something of their background, their habits and habitats, their similarities and differences. (A "Rhino field guide" with fast facts is part of the backmatter.) Other members of the zoo team are shown supporting Roth's work. The emphases on reproductive science and zoo work both make this an unusual addition to the admirable Scientists in the Field series, one that should be welcome in high-school as well as middle-school libraries. (glossary, suggested reading and websites, index) (Nonfiction. 10-16)