A Family for Faru

In this touching story of belonging and environmental awareness, a young boy’s courage and ingenuity help an orphaned rhinoceros find safety in a new herd.

Tetenya and his mother have found Faru, a baby rhinoceros, alone on the savannah. They know that rhino sanctuaries will adopt orphaned infants, but finding the rangers who protect local herds may be a long and risky prospect―there are poachers lurking about the landscape. Undaunted, Tetenya sets out, leading Faru past giraffes CHOMP-CHOMPING on acacia leaves, amongst vervet monkeys SLURP-SLURPING sweet fruits, and around guinea fowl SCRITCH-SCRITCHING the earth for seeds. Suddenly, danger is upon them: two poachers are coming near. There are only seconds to spare, and Tetenya has nothing but his wits and a handful of berries to help him.

In A Family for Faru, author Anitha Rao-Robinson draws inspiration from her life-changing time spent on the savannah and from conservationists’ innovation to discourage poachers: injecting a pink dye into rhinoceros horns. Award-winning illustrator Karen Patkau’s dreamy landscapes reflect her own travels in the region and celebrate the courage and ingenuity of a young boy as he helps his four-legged friend find a place to belong.

Anitha Rao-Robinson received her Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University and worked as an accountant for twenty-four years before trading numbers for words. Her previous works include Broken Worlds in 2014 and Broken Promises in 2017. Anitha is passionate about environmental awareness and hopes to continue to spread change.

Illustrator, designer, visual artist, and author Karen Patkau’s distinctive art can be found in more than a dozen picture books for children. She is the recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Memorial Medal for Don’t Eat Spiders, and One Watermelon Seed was a Bank Street Best Book. A Good Trade was a White Ravens Choice, a Bank Street Best Book, and a nominee for the OLA Blue Spruce Award and the Kentucky Bluegrass Award, among others. Karen lives in Toronto, Ontario.