Wherever we go or whether our absence is planned or unforeseen, we feel the same. Regardless if hours or weeks pass, when we enter a feeling of welcome washes over us. It is as if everything is as it should be. As the now famous words were spoken in the summer of 1939,
There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.
It seems that many of the living beings who share this planet with us, either through instinct or natural progression, prefer to reside in a familiar habitat. When they are displaced, they seek to return if they are able. Destiny Finds Her Way: How a Rescued Baby Sloth Learned to Be Wild (National Geographic, February 07, 2023) written by Margarita Engle with photographs by Sam Trull is a true story filled with heart and hope.
The tropical rainforest of Costa Rica
echoed with music from colorful birds,
the eee, eee, eee of darting squirrel monkeys,
boom, boom, boom from howler monkeys,
chirps and clicks of cicadas, and a whispering
rustle from the wandering breeze
in green treetops.
Injured and alone, a baby sloth cries for help. These cries alert would-be predators. Fortunately, humans find the sloth, taking her to a scientist. The scientist is one of two who founded a sloth rescue center.
The tiny sloth is taken home each night to be fed as often as necessary. All rescued sloths are named. Destiny's injured eye does not heal but her appetite is healthy. Eating guarumo leaves and hibiscus flowers makes her grow.
Climbing is difficult for a sloth with one eye, but Destiny is determined. She even assists other rescue sloths in their eating to build their strength. Soon Destiny graduates from
sloth preschool.
She is taken outside to study life in the wild. She learns to relieve herself by doing the
poop dance.
She becomes acquainted with the rainforest animals, their sounds, and the smells. Due to the loss of one eye, her other senses are stronger. She slowly moves and climbs from tree to tree. One day, a year later, her weight is heavy enough for her to be released into the wild. She wears a tracking collar, so the rescue people and the volunteers can monitor her and keep her safe. To the top she climbs, toward a life she is meant to live.
Take a moment. Go back and read the first sentence in this title, quoted above and written by Margarita Engle. This author has mastered the ability to take readers into her narrative with her sensory descriptions. We experience the assistance received by Destiny. We experience her growth, her adaptations, and the exhilaration of her delivery into the wild. Through her personal research at The Sloth Institute, Margarita Engle expertly adds facts to this nonfiction story. Here is a passage.
Smells were fascinating, too.
Hot, moist air rich with savory leaves
and fragrant flowers.
The stink of a tamandua
and the stench of a porcupine.
With the exception of only a few photographs as noted at the close of the book, all visuals for this title are the work of photographer and cofounder of The Sloth Institute, Sam Trull. On the front, right side, of the open and matching dust jacket and book case is Destiny in her natural habitat in Costa Rica. To the left of the spine on the back, the left side, we see her again in two other circular visuals. Here, too, other books in the Baby Animal Tales are shown.
A muted red orange covers the opening and closing endpapers. Prior to the formal title page, we are brought close to Destiny peeking between two tree branches. A gorgeous double-page image brings Destiny into focus with a blurred leafy background for the title page.
Throughout the book there are large pictures crossing the gutter. They create a sizable column on the opposite page in which other circular pictures are placed along with text. Any not featuring sloths are labeled with the name of the animal. The borders and background textures mirror the rain forests of Costa Rica and its people.
There are also informative and beautiful full-page pictures. If Destiny is not the showcased sloth, the sloths shown are captioned with their names. There are also half-page horizontal images with decorative borders. These photographs not only document the sloths, their recovery and release into the rain forest, but take us into the rainforest by showing us other flora and fauna.
One of my many favorite photographs covers three-quarters of a page. Destiny is embracing another sloth at the rescue center. They are nose to nose, gazing at each other. It is a close-up horizontal visual. This is one of numerous images that highlights the photographic skills of Sam Trull.
This nonfiction picture book, Destiny Finds Her Way: How a Rescued Baby Sloth Learned to Be Wild written by Margarita Engle with photographs by Sam Trull, is one to be enjoyed by readers of all ages. I guarantee everyone will learn something. At the close of the book is a full-page author's note and a full-page photographer's note. This is followed by a map showing where sloths reside. There is another page with information about The Sloth Institute, sloth books and a video to watch, and Facts About Sloths. I know you will want to place a copy of this book in all your collections.
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