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***NOTE: The air is clearing and many San Diego families have returned to their homes, so despite a harrowing week for all The Book Works looks forward to hosting Dr. Evens on October 28.***

Author Event at The Book Works

Sunday, October 28, 3:00-5:00 pm

Ruth Todd Evans

The Panda Who Would Not Eat

All ages are welcome to this reading, short talk, and booksigning.

Panda cookies and other treats will be served!

from Sunbelt Publications: about the book and the author:

CHILDREN’S BOOK BASED ON REAL-LIFE LOCAL PANDA

            The first male panda bear in the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Conservation program had a problem—he didn’t like the food he was given at the Zoo. The panda didn’t like the bamboo grown at the zoo and preferred one species of bamboo which grows at Quail Botanical Gardens.  The true story of Shi Shi, the picky panda, is the basis of a new children’s book “The Panda Who Wouldn’t Eat” by Ruth Todd Evans, M.D, and published in cooperation with Quail Botanical Gardens and the San Diego Zoo.

            The book is written for pre-school age children and is accompanied by charming watercolor-and-pen illustrations by Dr. Evans. The Chinese calligraphy on each page is the word “panda”; the symbol represents “bear” or “cat”. In the preface, the author explains that the Chinese seal on each page of the book means “for our descendants” as the “gardens and the zoo are striving to save plants and animals for our descendants.”

There are approximately 1,600 pandas living in the wild and some 160 in captivity around the world. Conservation projects such as those at the San Diego Zoo are helping to prevent the pandas from becoming extinct. Bamboo provides 99 percent of a panda’s diet. The Zoo grows 67 bamboo species, the Gardens grows 120 species, more than any other botanical garden in the U.S.; Zoo trucks still go to the gardens for bamboo.

Dr. Evans has had a life-long love of plants and nature. Following her career as a physician, she has been pursuing her passions: art and literature. She is donating the book’s royalties to Quail Botanical Gardens. She lives with her husband in Rancho Santa Fe.