Koalas: Moving portraits of serenity
Joanne Ehrich, Editor
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2006 Koala Jo Publishing
ISBN: 0976469804

Photos & narratives about Australia's beloved marsupials.

This spectacular coffee table book offers a collection of up close portraits by over 100 worldwide photographers of these much-loved animals, which are actually not bears, going about their peaceful lives.

In easily read narratives, dotted among the huge & fascinating portraits of these cuddly critters, are introductions to the three types of Australian Koalas, with information about their habits & life cycles both in the wild & captivity, & their endangered habitats.

About the enduring Allure of the Koalas: “What is the hold Koalas have on people worldwide? Photographs of [them] have been snapped ever since the first camera shutters sounded at the shores of Australia.. [p]erhaps Photographer Daniel Dy summed up the mystery... when he said, "I was originally drawn to the koala simply because of its cuteness. Observing it more carefully, I couldn't help but notice how contented it seemed, innocently sleeping on a tree branch without a care in the world."... Koalas often appear to... smile -— not unlike the Mona Lisa... there is no single word to accurately describe [them]... wide-eyed, kind, genial, non-offensive, gentle, serene, tranquil, knowing, delightful, modest, enchanting, wise, unobnoxious, guileless, inculpable, innocent, angelic, blameless, bashful, droll, primordial, farcical, funny-looking, impish, whimsical, mischievous, humanoid, eternal, dainty, dreamy, ancient, and majestic.

“No other living being on earth more resembles a teddy bear... [yet] this most affable creature is the farthest thing from being a bear. Even though it is sometimes still called a “native bear”... it's a pouch-bearing marsupial which places it in a completely different zoological family... the koala is... one of Australia's most precious ambassadors... as well as a link to the island continent's primordial past when animals coexisted in a predator-free... paradise-haven... [Koalas] are naturally born Zen Masters... [with t[he trees... providing] everything --home, food, and drink... remind[ing] us... that our basic needs {are always met they]... utter a gentle whisper that can only be heard by our true selves, rousing our soul's essential desire to take time-out... [i]t asks us to embrace reality in its purest form and to become better masters of our own lives... [t]he special tenderness of a Koala's embrace, the apparent love shared by a mother... and its reposing child, its seeming smile of contentment, all make us want to capture a little bit of that Koala power... for ourselves.”

& then there are the photos -- exquisite & detailed, some stills in sequences showing moving moments.

As Jack Hanna, renown for his Animal Adventures TV series writes: “[We] are opening a new chapter in their future on earth. Remember the poignant words of African ecologist Baba Dioum: ‘In the end, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we have been taught.’”

So come away to where the scent of eucalyptus lingers, where water is scarce & serenity exudes among these phascolarctor cinereus.

Koalas: Moving portraits of serenity is a truly breathtaking book of photography & information your family will treasure for generations.

Deborah Tabart, who wrote the Foreword, is executive director of the Australian Koala Foundation which won the prestigious Computerworld Smithsonian Medal for excellence in mapping koala habitats.
(04/23/06)

Rebecca