1. Read a book and write a report.
  2. Visit the WCS Web site.
  3. Take the Rainforest Pledge and choose three courses of action you will follow to conserve wildlife and wild places in tropical rainforest regions and in the area where you live.

Grown-ups' Guidelines

Read A Book And Write A Report

We talked with WCS conservationists in the Congo region and at the Bronx Zoo's Congo Gorilla Forest. Here is a list of books they have recommended to learn more about rainforests and about conserving wildlife. Your teacher, librarian or an adult at home can help you choose one of these books and find it in your classroom, a library, bookstore or online bookseller.

  • Cherry, Lynne. 1990. The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.
  • Fossey, Diane. 1988. Gorillas in the Mist. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
  • Jenike, David and Mark Jenike. 1994. A Walk Through A Rain Forest: Life in the Ituri Forest of Zaire. Zoological Society of Cincinnati.
  • Lang, Aubrey. 1996. The Sierra Club Kid's Guide to Planet Care and Repair. Sierra Club, San Francisco.
  • Ojo, Onukaba A. 1996. Mbuti: The Heritage Library of African Peoples. Rosen Publishing Group, New York.
  • Patent, Dorothy H. 1996. Biodiversity. Clarion, New York.
  • Patent, Dorothy H. 1996. Children Save the Rain Forest. Cobblehill Books, New York.
  • Weir, Bob and Wendy Weir. 1991. Panther Dream. Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, New York.
  • Wildlife Conservation Society. 1999. In Search of Gorillas: Adventure in the Rain Forest. An Interactive Story. Bronx, NY.
  • Wood, Selina. 1997. Closer Look at the Rainforest. Copper Beech Books, CT.

Read one of these books. Then write about what you've read. You may want to write a book review for your school's newspaper or Web site or make a multimedia presentation that combines your writing with images or sounds from photographs, film clips, audio recordings, maps or your own drawings.

Include answers to the following questions in your report: Why did you choose this book? What did you like best about it? What didn't you like? Why? What is the most important information you learned about rainforests? Why are rainforests in trouble, and why should kids your age care if rainforests disappear?