How to babysit a leopard : and other true stories from our travels across six continents / Ted Lewin and Betsy Lewin.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From Africa to Asia Pacific, from Europe to the United States of America, acclaimed authors/illustrators Ted and Betsy Lewin have roamed the earth taking on snakes, tracking mountain gorillas, and generally trying to avoid being eaten by various jungle creatures. Packed with pencil drawings, full-color illustrations, and captivating photographs, there is not a single dull moment as Ted and Betsy take the reader through their dramatic, funny, and often poignant stories...all true!

A Neal Porter Book

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Gr 6 Up-This thrilling collection of travel adventures from this celebrated husband-and-wife, author-illustrator team will appeal to a variety of readers, from aspiring biologists and globe-trotters to those who prefer traipsing the face of the planet from a comfortable chair. Featuring short, conversational pieces, and spectacular photos and vibrant artwork laid out like a journal, this enticing title describes the duo's experiences all over the world. This is a deceptively slim volume, brimming with details of fascinating creatures, locales, and people. The narrative is quite gripping in places, such as in a scene depicting the authors' attempt to outrun a charging lion that was chasing their truck. The book also paints quietly compelling portraits of individuals, such as an old leper woman in Botswana, squatting in the corner of a roofless home of twisted sticks. There is humor, too: in one chapter, an Irish farmer watches the Lewins struggle to pull a wagon out of mud, a task that would have been more easily performed by a horse. The couple's joie de vivre is infectious, and the intimate, familiar tone running through this work underscores the idea that while this planet hosts an incredible variety of humans, animals, and destinations, it's a small world after all. VERDICT A captivating tribute to this glorious orb we call home.-Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Ardent wildlife explorers, the Lewins take readers on a whirlwind tour of their travels, beginning with a 1970 trip to East Africa, where they spotted enormous herds of wildebeests and zebras, a gazelle, and a rare black rhino. Organized geographically rather than chronologically, this anecdotal travelogue incorporates information on animal habits and habitats, as well as human lifestyles, beliefs, and traditions. Unafraid of recounting gory or somber discoveries during their travels, the authors share plenty of incidents that will ensnare readers of any age, including a tense moment when a lion charged their truck in Botswana and the amusing discovery of a cane rat "dancing" with a tube of toothpaste in their tent in Mongolia. (In Botswana, they also came across the headless carcass of a kudu antelope in a river, with catfish "wriggling and writhing like living entrails" in its chest cavity.) Immediate and powerful, this retrospective underscores the Lewins' intrepid spirit of adventure, keen powers of observation, and mutual devotion, as well as the remarkable range of species they've encountered, which are spotlighted in a wealth of drawings and photos that bring their explorations to even fuller life. Ages 8-14. (June)? © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 6 Up-This thrilling collection of travel adventures from this celebrated husband-and-wife, author-illustrator team will appeal to a variety of readers, from aspiring biologists and globe-trotters to those who prefer traipsing the face of the planet from a comfortable chair. Featuring short, conversational pieces, and spectacular photos and vibrant artwork laid out like a journal, this enticing title describes the duo's experiences all over the world. This is a deceptively slim volume, brimming with details of fascinating creatures, locales, and people. The narrative is quite gripping in places, such as in a scene depicting the authors' attempt to outrun a charging lion that was chasing their truck. The book also paints quietly compelling portraits of individuals, such as an old leper woman in Botswana, squatting in the corner of a roofless home of twisted sticks. There is humor, too: in one chapter, an Irish farmer watches the Lewins struggle to pull a wagon out of mud, a task that would have been more easily performed by a horse. The couple's joie de vivre is infectious, and the intimate, familiar tone running through this work underscores the idea that while this planet hosts an incredible variety of humans, animals, and destinations, it's a small world after all. VERDICT A captivating tribute to this glorious orb we call home.-Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

This travelogue of exciting adventures from around the globe has been more than 40 years in the making. Veteran husband-and-wife author-illustrator team Ted Lewin and Betsy Lewin have traveled the world side by side, pursuing adventure while practicing their craft. Avoiding leisure resorts and tourist traps, they traveled to some of the most remote places on the globe, and narrative accounts of their travels are collected here. Plenty of close encounters with wildlife are detailed, but their most compelling stories are the human ones, such as their time spent visiting lepers in Botswana, talking to merchants in the spice markets of Morocco, and participating in a shaman ritual in a yurt in Mongolia. Ted and Betsy's artwork, from quick pencil sketches to fully realized, finished illustrations of their travels, fills each page, along with photos and other ephemera, such as passport stamps and plane tickets. With adventures aplenty across six continents and over four decades, this eye-opening account of the Lewins' unique experiences will likely mesmerize kids who dream of seeing the world.--Anderson, Erin Copyright 2015 Booklist

Horn Book Review

Sharing small snippets from over forty years of their travels, the Lewins give readers glimpses of lion attacks, peculiarities of various outhouses, bargaining in a Moroccan bazaar, a roll call of the highly poisonous animals in Australia, and scary encounters with combatants in Africa. Armchair travelers will enjoy browsing through this compilation, generously illustrated with personal photographs and the Lewins' own sketches. Ind. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

A husband-and-wife team, seasoned travelers, artists, and children's-book creators, offer readers a selection of highlights from 40 years of careful observation of the natural and human worlds in places near and far. Since the publication of Gorilla Walk in 1999, the Lewins have produced numerous titles reflecting specific adventures, but this is the first joint compilation of their travel experiences. Working continent by continent and beginning with their first safari to the Serengeti, they recount their adventures as if they were conversing with readers; sometimes one talks, sometimes the other. Some anecdotes are humorous and others sobering, especially as they note the effects of 30 years of civil war in Uganda or contrast the experience of a sloth bear in the wild with that of a captive dancing on the street near Delhi. There are scary encounters with lions, elephants, snakes, leeches, and a sharp-billed macawnot to mention soldiers. There are curious foodsmopani worms and mushrooms the size of pizzas. They travel by horse cart and reindeer sledge and atop an elephant. They admire French bullfighters and Mongolian wrestlers and horses everywhere. They marvel, too, at spectacles close to home: a cattle roundup in Nevada, horseshoe crabs massed on the Delaware shore. These brief glimpses will whet the appetites of wannabe wanderers of all ages. (Nonfiction. 8 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.