Wildlife on Paper: Animals at Risk Around the Globe

by Kunal Kundu

Introducing the magnificent crumpled paper art by debut author Kunal Kundu, Wildlife on Paper brings to life animal species at risk from all around the world while teaching kids how cool and unique each animal is.

Amazon's Best Books of the Year (Children Nonfiction, 2020)
One of Society of Illustrator's Featured Artists in the Original Art 2021
Winner of a 2021 Eureka! Honor Award, presented by the California Reading Association
Gold Medal Recipient of the Moonbeam Spirit Awards, 2021
Winner of India's Best Design Awards 2021, presented by Design India

From the Peary caribou in Northwest Canada to the Galapagos Penguin in Ecuador, the Royal Bengal Tiger in India to the Hawksbill Sea Turtle in Australia, this book celebrates the rich diversity of wildlife on almost every continent. Each of the sixteen exquisitely handcrafted paper sculptures come with interesting trivia and facts about where the animal lives and how it survives in its habitat and interacts with nature. Also included is a map of where each creature lives on the globe, plus a list of helpful resources and the author's favorite nature conservation organizations.

Sure to be a favorite for kids and adults alike, Wildlife on Paper opens the world wide as you marvel at the gorgeous crumpled paper art journey through the ocean, forest, desert, and more to learn about the diversity of animals and their incredible characteristics.

(Please note the artist creates his sculptures sourced from eco-friendly paper companies that plant a tree for every ream of paper sold.)

Editorial Reviews

"While there are plenty of picture books introducing readers to endangered animals, the illustrations in this one make it stand out. Author/illustrator Kundu uses crumpled paper to form the animals and then places them within digital environments and photographs the whole. The results—such as an eastern imperial eagle that soars through amber skies and a bulky polar bear on a floe—are striking."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Motivate future wildlife conservationists through this series of striking images depicting endangered and at-risk species from around the world. It’s a stunning visual blend of art, nature, and zoological facts, with northern white rhinos, snow leopards, and vaquitas sculpted from paper using an original crumpling technique created by author and illustrator Kunal Kundu. Shown in dramatic light and color and at home in their jungles, mountains, and oceans, each animal is introduced with an accompanying informative note."
—Foreword Reviews

"Kundu offers a noteworthy introduction to unusual and often-endangered wildlife. The illustrations, which feature crumpled paper art and digital backgrounds, glow with light and seem more three dimensional than is possible on a page. . . Each page spotlights one animal and provides a few compelling facts. A map showing the locations of each of the animals and a thorough bibliography are included. Kundu provides a work that is valuable as a picture book and as a resource about rare animal life. This vibrant work examines 16 unique and endangered animals. Recommended both for its unconventional visual treatment and the fascinating information that complements the illustrations."
—School Library Journal

"This is for all animal lovers and budding conservationists, especially for those in elementary school grades 1-5. A great introduction to these animals to lead into doing further research."
—Youth Services Book Review

"Sure to be a favorite for kids and adults alike, Wildlife on Paper opens the world wide as you marvel at the gorgeous crumpled paper art journey through the ocean, forest, desert, and more to learn about the diversity of animals and their incredible characteristics. . . Beautifully illustrated throughout, fun and informative."
—Children’s Bookwatch

"The artwork blew me away! It is totally unique and amazing. Kunal Kundu cleverly includes a wondrous set of diverse animals; each two page spread is devoted to one animal with a brief yet informative text about the animal accompanied by a portrayal of that animal in his unique style of paper art. This book will definitely excite and inspire young readers to learn more about these endangered animals as well as to try out their hand at paper sculpture or similar crafts. I know I want to!! A cool addition to libraries; especially for young art and wildlife enthusiasts."
—Lady in Read Writes

"The unique illustrations in this book make it a stand out. Each dramatic 2-page spread features a cutout of the animal sculpted from crumpled paper and photographed in a digital environment in Kundu's own signature style that he describes as 'gesture drawing as a paper sculpture.' The effect is a stunning three-dimensional work of art that will captivate children and adults alike. Wildlife on Paper is a treasured keepsake for conservationists and just plain animal lovers."
—Advice from a Caterpillar

"Gorgeous! I was en...

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

Published September 22, 2020

About the author

Kunal Kundu is an award winning artist and a polymath creative with a penchant for working in different media and styles. However, paper as a medium has always fascinated him. These artworks, made by crumpling paper into shapes and later superimposing them on digital environments, is different from other known paper art styles like origami, pop-ups, solid geometry based paper engineering, relief cutouts or papier-mâché.
Kunal's paper crumpling style is, in his own words "like gesture drawing as a paper sculpture," and when he is creating, he relies heavily on the pareidolia phenomenon (the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern). At the beginning of 2018, Kunal decided to lose the 'polymath creative' tag and develop a signature style of work. Around the same time, his son, barely a year old used to crumple waste paper sheets and play with them. Kunal picked up one such crumpled piece of paper made by his son and it looked to him like a dog's head... That was the moment he knew he had found his signature style.

Reviews

[Christopher Obert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book and a very unique type of art! The artist, Kunal Kundu, has fun new way to get kids interested in animals (like they needed any help, but still cool!) He uses crumpled up paper to create lifelike displays of real life animals. He says he got the idea from his young son, so you know it is genius! Using his talent to create the art by crumpling up paper into the correct shapes is just the start. He then adds lighting effects to bring the paper animals to life and then using the magic of digital technology he adds a proper background. To tell you the truth, the thing I liked best about the book has nothing to do with the book. I love the idea of sitting on the floor with a young child, that has not yet developed any art skills, crumpling up some paper with them and asking them what animals do you see. As we all know, young children may not all be great artists. However, each of us know that all children have imagination skills that are off the charts! This book proves that art can touch everyone.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting concept. It's a picture book that features endangered animals around the world. Each animal gets a short blurb with some unknown interesting facts. But the unusual part is that instead of real life photos of the animals, the author/artist has created impressive and amazing crumpled paper sculptures of each animal. And by itself, it would be a fantastic exhibit to see all those sculptures in person. But photos of crumpled paper sculptures don't quite capture the texture or the amazing 3-dimensional art, and they don't also depict the animal as vividly as you might want to see the animal. I really wanted to love this because the crumpled paper art is amazing and I love the concept of a book highlighting endangered animals. But the execution is a little disappointing.

[Natalie Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting art style paired with interesting facts about endangered animals make this book a winner. It would be a great addition to any grade-school nonfiction section. I only wish the book were twice as long.

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gorgeous book! The paper sculptures that the Kundu created to accompany each spread are so detailed. He features at risk or endangered animals from different parts of the world, from Sumatra to Russia, the Congo to Norway. The information is succinct, but includes gems that readers will surely find fascinating. Did you know that the snow leopard is more closely related to tigers than leopards? Or that the collective noun for tigers is an ambush or a streak? An awesome book for animal lovers everywhere.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The paper sculpture illustrations are amazing!

[Deependra Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finding a good book for children is a hard task to do. There are a plethora of options available, but to keep a track on what is right for your kid is your concern. Introducing this book to all the parents who are keen to know more about it.

The book has a total number of 40 attractive pages serving wildlife conservation purposes. We need this and so do our coming generations. If you ever came across data of how species are vanishing, you have already known the importance of this topic should be heard or discussed with your kids.

Wildlife on paper is a signature art of author Kunal kundu. He is the master of making various crumpled paper art. His creativity turns plane eco-friendly papers into marvelous physical sculptures of animals.

The motive of making these paper animals is to educate more people and spread awareness.
We are exploiting this nature. Now is the time to stop various inhuman acts that directly or indirectly cause damage to wildlife. If we fail to gain this consciousness then coming generations will see these animals on paper only.

Content provided is informative. You will get to know about different animal's subspecies like:
•🐯 Bengal Tiger •🐆Snow Leopard
•🐋North Atlantic Right Whale
•🐻 ❄️Polar bear •🐧Galapagos Penguin
•🦍Mountain Gorilla •🦏Northern White Rhinoceros
•🦅 Eastern Imperial Eagle •🐘African Bush Elephant
•(ᶿ᷇ധᶿ᷆)Pacific Walrus •𓆉Hawksbill Sea Turtle
•🐵Sumatran Orangutan •Sunda Pangolin
•Peary Caribou •Vaquita •Lowland Tapir

Readable portion is comprehensive with an attractive magazine background of distinct habitats. Each page evenly consisting of wildlife on paper has eye-catching illustrations. The key point here is that the author has used crumpled paper art photos & superimposed them on meticulously created digital environments.They look fascinating to grab your attention. Also the odd number of pages comprising details related to individual animals i.e. name, habitat, curious facts.
Kids are going to love the hardcover as the quality is top-notch.

[Amanda Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some fantastic images of animals designed with paper and some images that don't do the animals justice. I love the Sumatran Orangutang and pangolin and eagle. I think the snow leopard and caribou could have used more definition and detail. The facts about the animals are sometimes too common-knowledge, for example: the snow leopard is a great jumper and the orangutang eats fruit. Some facts that were more interesting were that the tapir "is called the gardener of the forest as its poop contains diverse seeds, which helps sprout new trees and plants" and the hawksbill sea turtle eats poisonous sponges. The map and Works Cited list are very helpful. This is a good reference resource.

[Walkwitha_book · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very important topic which is mostly covered in all the books but keeping the importance alive, the author has beautifully written this book keeping the children in mind.

The crumpled paper art is rare to find in the books but author Kunal has presented in a beautiful way.

This book is a beautiful read and a perfect book for children. They will learn more about endangered animals.

The language is very simple. This book is recommended to the children. The title and the cover is fascinating.

Go and order your copy now! It’s an expensive but worth buying book.

[Ashley Licht · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really cool! The paper art is incredible! However, I feel like with the title "animals at risk around the globe" there would have been more information about how they are at risk, and how we can help these amazing animals.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful paper crafting of animals around the world. I liked how the location of each animal was listed and then shown on a world map.