Greg Pizzoli's New Biography

        Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  From Alyson and others, you will discover terrific nonfiction picture books!

   Be sure to visit my other post today with a giveaway of a new middle-grade book!

          I have read a number of books chronicling adventures in jungles like the memorable River of Doubt by Candice Millard about Theodore Roosevelt's dark journey on the Amazon. Yet, it is so exciting to read of this explorer in the early 20th century, a new adventurer to me, and a book for middle-grade students who love exploring, maps, and learning about interesting places in our world. I enjoyed Greg Pizzoli's Tricky Vic, and this one, too, so well presented from the early life of Percy Fawcett to his work and travel for the Royal Geographical Society. The story tells of numerous trips, the equipment needed, dangers faced, like giant anacondas and many kinds of dangerous insects. Eventually, Fawcett centered his life's goals on finding a hidden city that he called "Z", one of great stone buildings built by a people long ago. He knew that if found, he would gain worldwide celebrity. He trekked into unknown areas in a final trip with only his son and his son's friend. The ending is shocking, and Fawcett did indeed become renowned.
         Throughout the tale, Pizzoli adds a few side pieces with further information, like about the Amazon and about mosquitos. Wow! Did you know there are estimated to be about 3,500 species of mosquitos on earth? These extras expand the story well, in addition to an author's note, added biographical information, a glossary and a source list. Pizzoli explains the interesting illustrations also which are cartoon-like, created with cut paper collages, and the use of various kinds of technology. He also traveled to Central America and Southeast Asia, trips that inspired the art.

The marvelous pages about that huge anaconda!

       If beginning a study of rain forests, mapping, or explorers, this book will inspire students to want to know more, to plan research in numerous areas, to consider what might be needed to make such trips, pragmatically and emotionally. I enjoyed it very much!