At the moment Children’s panda books are in great demand because of the release of the movie Kung Fu Panda 2. Both the first and the second Kung Fu Panda movies performed really well. Even if it wasn’t because of the movie, pandas have always been lovable cute creatures. They are chubby, cute, fluffy and soft creatures. All you want to do is hug their soft bodies and give them a kiss.
They are also the animals that represent the WWF (World Wide Fund) which is the largest animal conservation organization.
Below is a list of a 7 children’s panda books that are fun to read:-
1. Pi-Shu the Little Panda by John Butler
Ages 4 and up
Pi-Shu is a young panda who lives with his mother. He’s all cute and tiny and he’s new to life which he really enjoys. His mother like any other mother loves him a lot and takes good care of him. He’s still learning how to walk and climb and he enjoys eating bamboo. As he grows older he gets more and more curious. He starts exploring the forest and one day he strays far outside the forest where he comes across humans who are destroying his forest.
Startled and scared by this he makes his way back to his mother. She then guides him to the deeper parts of the forest far away from humans and all dangers.
This book is a great read for young children. It’s full of cute drawings of Pi-Shu and his mother and the writing is so sweet. It’s both entertaining and educative. It teaches kids how pandas live in the wild. There characters are a little anthropomorphized (made human like), but this makes it even better as kids can associate with them better.
It also lets kids know all about the dangers endangered animals like the panda face in the forests and that life can be hard. All through a great read for kids and adults.
2. Legend of the Giant Panda by A.B. Curtiss
Ages 4 and up
Ages ago pandas were completely white in colour, not an inch of black fur covered their bodies. They lived deep in the forests where they were rarely seen. In the forest were other animals and humans. Humans never really cared about the forest. They destroyed it without a thought. One day due to the carelessness of a farmer a tiny fire started in the forest, this fire grew and grew and became one scary and hungry fire.
The pandas came to the rescue of the forest, using their paws and bodies alone they put out the fire and rescued the forest, but this left them with black markings all over their bodies. This gave their bodies beautiful mixtures of the colours black and white.
This is a beautiful story. The pictures are great and the writing’s also very good. It’s fun to read. The book teaches you two things. One of them is deforestation and how humans who inhabit forests are destroying them. But the second main lesson is to love your mother land and earth. It teaches kids that it’s important to love earth and protect it with your life, just like the pandas.
3. Panda and Polar Bear by Matthew Baek
Ages 4 and up
Polar bears live high up in the cold and panda bears live low in a warm place. This was the reason why they never met each. Then one day a little polar bear got a little too curious and walked really close to the cliff. This made it lose its balance and holding and it fell down. It fell into some mud which gave it panda like markings on its body.
After this the polar bear runs into a panda bear and they make friends instantly. They start spending a lot of time together playing, they even eat food together. The polar bear loses its panda like markings when it goes for a swim and it appears like a polar bear again.
This scares the polar bear. He’s worried that the panda will not want to be friends with him again after he finds out the truth. But to his surprise the panda likes and enjoys hearing stories about the world high up there. They then build a ladder, using which the polar bear goes back home and they visit each other’s home and their friendship grows.
This story is educative it teaches kids that these two bears live in different habitat and they eat different kinds of food. It also teaches them that how you look or behave doesn’t make a difference. You can make friends with anybody from any culture and build close long lasting relationships with them.
The book is filled with colourful water colour pictures and interactive text put together perfectly. It’s also got a surprising twist at the end which I haven’t mentioned. Read the book to find out.
4. Little Panda by Renata Liwska
Ages 4 and up
Grandson Panda finds it hard to believe when Grandfather Panda starts reciting the story of the little Panda and the flying tiger. Grandson Panda finds the words “Flying Tiger” hard to believe. But Grandfather Panda ignores his doubts and goes on reciting his story. He tells him the story about Bao Bao the little panda and his mother Lin Lin.
He tells him about how Bao Bao spent his time with his mother playing, climbing trees and doing other fun stuff. Then finally the part of the hungry flying tiger comes in.
This one’s a very good story with brilliant writing and colourful illustrations. There are no big lessons that could be learnt, but it still is fun to read. Once you read it you be sure of coming back to it for more.
5. Panda-Monium! By Cynthia Platt
Ages 4 and Up
Beckett is a little hungry panda. He gets so hungry that he goes on a long quest in search of the sweet juicy bamboo which is Pandas favourite food. This search takes him through meadows, fields and woods. What he doesn’t realize is that, as he’s focused on finding bamboo, he’s being followed by a group of hungry little pandas who are getting hungrier and hungrier for bamboo shoots just like him.
The book’s a beautiful read with rhyming verse. The images of the cute little pandas are just so loveable and even the backgrounds are filled with mountains, green fields and flowers which give a very pleasant and beautiful scenery.
6. Panda in the Park by Anna Milbourne and Rachel Wells
Ages 6 months and up
A little panda’s in a park would you like to join it and play hide and seek? The panda is in the park with its friends and it goes around the park looking for its friends and as soon as it finds one friend they join the panda and look for the other friends together.
This book is only 10 pages long with very simple writing and drawings, so easy that even your 6 month old baby will enjoy it. It’s also a look through book (a hole on each page which lets you see a bit of the next page), which makes it very interactive. You and your kids can join in and help the panda find its friends.
7. Dinner at the Panda Palace by Stephanie Calmenson and Nadine Bernard Wescott
Ages 2 and up
Mr. Panda runs a restaurant where he keeps welcoming his guests an elephant, monkeys and penguins to name a few. More animals continue arriving at the restaurant, but the panda always welcomes them in cheerfully because there’s room for everyone inside the panda palace. Inside the restaurant the animals eat anything they like, as the restaurant has an enormous food choice.
The monkeys eat bananas and the penguins eat fish and the other animals anything they want to. At the end everybody leaves happily with full stomachs.
A very colourful book with rhyming verse which makes it fun to read for anybody. It also teaches kids how to count and the different types of diets different animals have. It also teaches you how happy people can feel if you treat them right way.
Have I missed out anything? Are there any panda books you enjoy reading? Would love to hear your thoughts?