Knut Book Focus

Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World

By Craig Hatkoff

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Knut is a 4-month old polar bear who resides at the Berlin Zoo in Germany. Knut was rejected by his mother at birth and has been raised by zookeeper Thomas Dorflein to the delight of tens of thousands of people who visit the zoo each day.  Almost overnight Knut has become the face of global warming and emerged as a symbol for a greener world as scientists have issued warnings that the polar bear will soon be extinct if radical measures are not taken.  The telegenic bear cub recently appeared on the cover of the Vanity Fair "Green" Issue with Leonardo DiCaprio and was also published in People magazine headlined as "The Cutest Animal Ever!" and "Happy Knut year!".

Craig Hatkoff along with his two best-selling co-author daughters Juliana, 12, and Isabella, 8, in cooperation with the Berlin Zoo, wrote the book.  To date Hatkoff has penned a total of five children's books with his daughters including the number one best-selling "Owen & Mzee" books (with Isabella), "Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship" (Scholastic 2006) and "Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship" (Scholastic 2007).  Both books have appeared on the best-seller list at the same time.  This is the first book that they all write together.  There are more than 600,000 copies of the award winning "Owen and Mzee" books in print in 15 different languages including Swahili and Braille. Turtle Pond also recently launched the innovative, highly interactive website, http://www.owenandmzee.com/ and will also create a website for Knut expected to launch mid-year.

"We have been writing children's books as a family activity since Juliana was five," said Craig Hatkoff, Turtle Pond Publications founder. Juliana's first book with her father also became a New York Times best seller. "Having been through an incredible journey with the publication of the Owen and Mzee series, Knut is a very logical next project for us and is a story the three of us could all do together.  The power of Knut as an inspirational icon for an environmentally conscious world creates a tremendous opportunity to raise awareness of the issues in the global climate debate.  As a symbol, Knut can help establish an optimistic mindset about creating solutions.  We are thrilled and honored to be partnering with the Berlin Zoo that has shown an enormous commitment to playing a leading role about respecting the world's habitats. We are hoping that a little polar bear can help the world de-polarize the complex issues."

"Within a few days, Knut has become famous in Germany and beyond. On April 17, the Berlin Zoo launched its campaign "Respect Habitats.Knut" and unveiled the Knut logo intended to be used as a seal of approval for positive steps, actions and strategies that deal with the complex environmental challenges in a fair and equitable manner-one that respects the interests of all stakeholders. We need to develop new markets and mechanisms that better reflect the complexities so we can arrive at practical, well-balanced political, economic and scientific solutions.  The Berlin Zoo will invest a portion of the proceeds towards initiatives and educational programs to achieve this goal," said Dr. Gerald R. Uhlich, Member of the Board and CEO of the Berlin Zoo. "Surely, Knut will win the hearts of millions of readers and raise their awareness to environmental issues across the world."

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Polar Bear Protection Program
After months of consideration, the U.S. government has officially listed the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne outlined the landmark decision on Wednesday.

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