Dan Schoening was born in Victoria, B.C. Canada. From an early age, Dan has had a passion for animation and comic books. Currently, Dan does freelance work in the animation and game industry and spends a lot of time with his lovely little daughter, Paige.
Meet Gorilla Grodd, a brainiac super ape with the power of mind
control and a zest for conquering the world. And Poison Ivy, a
femme fetal with a keen relationship with all things plant-based
and a self-preserving interest in their wellbeing. Normally these
two DC Comic villains would be involved in serious combat with
heroine Wonder Woman (whose everyday persona is Princess Diana of
Themyscira), but in Rumble in the Rainforest they're in cahoots to
defeat an even bigger threat: Mr. Javlar of Javlar Industries.
Javlar owns a sizeable portion of the rainforest on which he claims
to operate a water treatment plant, but Wonder Woman's gut
instincts inform her he's up to something more sinister. In
reality, Javlar is harvesting old growth lumber in the forest --
unsustainably of course -- and setting fire to the remaining tracts
of desolate land. All this has caused massive soil erosion, muddied
waters, and devastation for animal and plant life, the latter being
the reason for Gorilla Grodd and Poison Ivy's involvement. I love
this book for its fast-paced, energetic momentum, but also for its
messaging. Wonder Woman, I think, sums it up nicely in one of her
poignant reflections: How does one "own" a tree? What about the
animals that made it a home, the oxygen it produced, the carbon
dioxide it clean from the air? Could a person "own" all of that?
http:
//vegbooks.org/index.php/2011/01/06/wonder-woman-rumble-in-the-rainforest/--
"Vegbooks Blog"
Reason for Reading: This book is too hard for my ds to read on his
own and will be read aloud by dh as a bedtime book. But I like my
superheroes too and wasn't going to miss out on the fun! The plot
involves a man known for his ruthless business tactics, no matter
the harm done to human or nature in the process, who is being
honoured for running a plant which makes drinkable water from ocean
water on a small rainforest island country. Princess Diana is one
of the delegates at the ceremony and she senses this man has not
turned over a new leaf. She goes into Wonder Woman mode and
discovers that his water treatment facility is just a facade for a
much more evil business which is ruining the rainforest in the
process. While she is out in the jungle she runs upon two enemies
fighting each other: Gorilla Grodd and Poison Ivy. She manages to
convince them that while they are not all on the same team, this
time they are all on the same side; that of the rainforest.
Personally, I find eco-fiction a little tiring these days but am at
least glad to see that this book deals with a real issue that once
made headlines but no longer seems as media-worthy these days.
Aside from that, I loved the action! What fun to have not one, but
two super-villains show up in a story. Particularly Poison Ivy who
is a personal favourite female villain. Somehow I've missed meeting
Gorilla Grodd before but he adds a high dose of masculinity to the
story for boys as do the eventual robots they all end up fighting
at the water treatment centre. Written and illustrated by comic
industry professionals, the story and characters all have an
authentic feel. Each chapter has at least one full page
illustration, some even have two, the pages of pure text are broken
up for the reader by using comic book style graphics, in colour,
for all the sound effect words. This nicely breaks up a two page
spread of text which may otherwise seem daunting to reluctant
readers. Great comic action in a chapter book. http:
//back-to-books.blogspot.com/2011/02/32-wonder-woman-rumble-in-rainforest.html--
"Back to Books Blog"
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