Nicola Davies’s non-fiction stories are renowned for their skilful combination of great drama and important messages about conservation. Zaki’s family have always kept a performing bear and made money from showing her off. Zaki has two bear cubs he can train to dance but now the government is trying to stamp out the practice which is cruel to the bears and reducing the number of sloth bears surviving in the wild. Zaki decides to return his bear cubs to the wild but it isn’t possible for the young bears to manage on their own in the wild. A touching story about the relationship between a boy and his bear cubs.
Aashiq lives in northern India. His father mistreats his wife and children and the family's dancing bears - an old female and the two new cubs who are to replace her. Aashiq wants all the bears to be free. With the help of his mother and sister, the old bear is taken to a sanctuary for retired bears while Aashiq runs away to the forest with the cubs. There he spends months teaching them how to survive in the wild. When he returns to his family, he finds his father's cruel rule has finally been overturned. His mother has a new way of making a living - and Aashiq and his sister can go to school at last.
Nicola Davies has visited all the countries she writes about - and information about real conservation projects is included at the back of each book. These books focus on children who live in countries where wild animals pose a threat, and on the solutions that will affect their lives and their future.
Click on the links below to download extracts of Nicola's other titles featuring wild animals in their native habitats..
Nicola Davies is an award-winning author whose many books for children include Ice Bear, Big Blue Whale and King of the Sky. She is a Zoology graduate, an expert in whales and bats, and has worked for the BBC Natural History Unit. She lives in Powys
