Are you an animal lover? I find many kids are. I feel like there are some great new books featuring animals as well as climate change. Today I am sharing an amazing middle grade novel that dives into the amazing world of animals and tries to bring to light some of the endangered animals. But it also is a riveting, action-packed story full of relationships and adventure. The book is Armando & the Amazing Animal Race by Diana Schaffter. There is a giveaway at the end of the post to enter!
About the Book:
Armando and the Amazing Animal Race Written by Diana SchaffterAges: 8-12 | 350 Pages | Publisher: Sea Otter Press (2025) | ISBN: 978-1-0690795-1-0
Publisher’s Book Summary: Two unlikely teammates on a grueling continent-hopping race. Their mission: to photograph 7 endangered animals in just 70 days… and solve a baffling family mystery.
When twelve-year-old Armando stumbles on his mother’s old race journal and convinces his wacky grandmother to join the Amazing Animal Race—the same race his mother disappeared on eight years earlier—his summer explodes into a wild global adventure. Armed with night vision goggles, bear spray, and support from his tech-savvy friend Jinny, Armando faces a charging polar bear, poachers’ bullets, and ruthless rivals as he races across the icy Arctic to the steamy Amazon rainforest. What starts as a race to help endangered animals and the environment spirals into a treacherous quest to unravel a mystery that will change Armando’s family—and his life—forever.
Packed with thrilling action, laugh-out-loud moments, and unforgettable characters, Armando and the Amazing Animal Race takes readers on a whirlwind journey of self-discovery across the globe. This heart-warming tale of family, mystery, and wildlife conservation will inspire adventurers, both young and old, to see the world and themselves in a whole new light.
“. . . a whirlwind of an environmentally minded tale. . .”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS – “OUR VERDICT: √ GET IT!”
“. . .fantastically engaging . . . super fun as well as poignant. . .”
—JENNIFER REES, editor, Explorer Academy, National Geographic
“. . . will resonate with anyone who yearns for adventure…”
—MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Purchase Links:
About the Author:
Diana Schaffter is no stranger to adventure. She is fluent in Thai, has traveled to over fifty countries, raised her two sons overseas, and lived in seven countries in Asia and Eastern Europe for forty-two years, including two years in Pyongyang, North Korea, where her husband was the head of the UNICEF office. Diana has worked with Cambodian refugees, taught in international schools, opened schools in Thailand and Vietnam, and has been an educational consultant to non-governmental organizations and the Ministry of Education in Laos.
In researching her story, she followed in the footsteps of her main character, Armando, traveling to Southern India to search for wild cobras with the Irula tribe, to Vladivostok, Russia, to see a Siberian tiger with a local conservationist, to the home of the elusive desert leopard in the Judean desert in Israel; and into the thick Brazilian Amazon rainforest to visit an Indigenous tribe and to photograph a pied tamarin monkey. Wherever she has lived, Diana has witnessed the power of human resilience, cooperation, and caring, which inspires her writing. Diana and her co-adventurer husband, Tim, now live in Sidney, BC, Canada, where she continues to write, give talks in schools and communities, and work with young people.
For more information, visit:
- dianaschaffter.com
- https://www.instagram.com/dianaschaffter/
- https://www.facebook.com/dianaschaffterwriter/
- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/54505014.Diana_Schaffter
From Me:
Over the years Hazel and I have enjoyed many books about animals and especially endangered animals. She loved Wild Kratts when she was young and when nothing is on television and we don't want to truly have to focus, it has been turned on a couple of times this year. She used to know all sorts of random facts about animals because of that show. This book reminds me of that time. Throughout the book Armando shares random animal facts with his friend, Jinny, and his grandmother. Some of the ones he shares he learns from his mother's journal. This book has many facets, and each is important to the story as well as full of life lessons. There is the information about the endangered animals and global warming. This book is packed with fun facts about these animals and information about how global warming and humans are destroying them. There is also the loss of Armando's mother and how the race brings him closer to her and in many ways to his father. Armando's father is distant since Amelia, Armando's mother, died. His father never tells him about his mother. Armando was four when she died so he doesn't really remember her. His father is always too busy with work to do things with Armando. This summer Armando is being sent to stay with his grandmother--his mother's mother--who he hasn't seen since his mother's funeral and only knows from video calls however she is awful with technology, so he knows she wears pink sneakers and that is about it. The entire family dynamic is at play in the book. The memories of Amelia as well as trying to connect as a family. Then there is Armando's best friend, Jinny. She is extremely helpful with the technology. Throughout the book Armando realizes there is a lot more to her than he ever knew. There are hints of possibly wanting to be more than friends, but it is not explored at all. Then there is the entire problem with the cosmetic company sponsoring the race and how they are actually hurting the environment and animals in making their products. Yup, there is a lot in this book and lots that can be discussed.
The map above shows the animals that are part of the race and where you can find them in the world. Personally, I love the details about the animals and the countries that are shared through Amelia's journal. The book shares the journal entries including beautiful black and white illustrations. I also love how the other tween in the story is very into his phone and games on it. In the author's note Diana shares that she wanted to entice kids away from their phones and games and to know real animals and the beauty of the real world. She does this perfectly with the story and emphasizes the point with Benton, who is a spoiled rich kid and partner with his professor uncle since Benton's parents want to have a vacation without him. A message that runs through the book is to look for the good and that we are all connected. This is true with each other as well as with animals and nature. The book truly points these messages out over and over. I love the message as well as how the book is action-packed and interesting to read. It is a page turner, and you want to know what is going to happen next to Armando and Granny D. It will have kids interested in reading and hopefully interested in learning more about what they can do to help save the animals and our planet.
This book is perfect for a classroom setting. There are discussion questions at the end. It is also the perfect summer read for middle grades. It is full of adventure, mystery as well as good values and fun. Kids will fall in love with the characters, especially Granny D. The story well written and researched and the characters are well developed. There is intrigue and mystery at each corner and they travel the world, so it is packed full of various cultures and ways of life around the world. Plus Armando's father is working to save sea otters and other animals from an oil spill and World Otter Day is coming up on May 28th! It is a fun book that I truly loved reading and hope you will check out!!
Giveaway:
Enter for a chance to win a copy of Armando and the Amazing Animal Race signed by Diana Schaffter! One lucky grand prize winner will also receive an exclusive adventure-themed bundle that includes a themed T-shirt, a set of vibrant stickers featuring all seven endangered animals from the story, three beautifully illustrated maps, and, to top it all off, a $50 Amazon gift certificate. Good luck!!
