Mrs. Harkness and the Panda

Mrs. Harkness and the Panda by Alicia Potter; ill. Melissa Sweet
Copyright March 2012
Which readers? Kindergarten and beyond

This picture book tells the true story of Ruth Harkness and her quest to find a panda bear. Mrs. Harkness's husband actually set out to find the panda in 1934, but he died while he was in China. Mrs. Harkness was a tea gown designer in NYC, but her love for her husband inspired her to pick up her husband's quest where he had left off. Though all of her friends, her husband's associates, and her helpers in China scoffed and told her she would never be able to do it, she forged right ahead without listening to any naysayers.

This book has such an inspiring story about a woman who was ahead of her time and just refused to be turned back from her goal. But the illustrations in this book are JUST as remarkable as the story/writing. I am quite fascinated with Melissa Sweet's work, as I have been repeatedly suprised and stunned by her work in several books over the past year. I usually pick up the book, read a few pages, and then think, "Wow, who is the illustrator here?" And then it is Melissa Sweet. This book makes use of drawings, collage with actual paper from China, and postcards from some of the ports Mrs. Harkness visited, just to name a few. For example, the opening page shows a drawing of Mrs. Harkness working on a sketch for a tea dress, and the facing page is a collage of fabric, notions, a sewing pattern, and a paper with Chinese writing on it. China has not even been mentioned yet at this point in the writing, and I really enjoy the way this foreshadows what is to come.

I think children will love the story, and I think they will get even more out of the illustrations if it is done as a read aloud with a document camera so that the illustrations can be examined carefully. There is lots of material for discussion here, such as determination, following your dreams, and also the ethical questions surrounding taking an animal from its habitat so it can live in a zoo in a foreign land.

Melissa Sweet's blog also contains lesson guides for this and her other books. http://melissasweet.net/

Melissa  Sweet also has a book on this year's Bluebonnet List. More great picture book NF. Review coming soon!