by Nicola Davies
 
“I am the last.
I’ve looked and looked but I’ve never found another like me…
…I am not the only last.
There are many lasts here”. 
 
A white rhino paces in a cage, on a rooftop zoo, peering out over a dreary, cold, urban landscape reminiscing about sunnier plains full of others just like him. He misses the smells- of grass and flowers; “even the rain smelled empty”. But, looking on is a family, a family who  see him and who are working in the background to bring him home. Inspired by the true story (told in an author backnote) of Sudan, the last male Northern White Rhino, who died in March 2018. 
 
The illustrations are a story all to themselves. Collage is used to layer up the pictures with scatterings of words from advertising and environmental speech, in different languages. A monochrome palette is broken up with colour when happier times are remembered and when hope arrives. A deftly put together conservation story from an award-winning author (who formerly trained as a zoologist), known for her skills in translating urgent environmental issues into child-friendly texts. Age 4-7, Paperback 29pp