The Rain Forest Dance

About the Book

30% OF THE AUTHOR'S ROYALTIES WILL BE DONATED TO A RAIN FOREST CONSERVATION ORGANIZATION OR A FOUNDATION THAT SUPPORTS AND PROVIDES SUPPLIES FOR IMPOVERISHED SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES IN THE AMAZON.

Mariposa goes to the Amazon to visit her uncle, T’o Toucan, who is a naturalist and guide in the rain forest. She wonders why she ends up going with her Papa on the trip to northern Peru, instead of her brother. She would have preferred staying home in Los Angeles to dance to pop music with her best friend, Monica.

Mariposa and Papa stay in her uncle's river village house on stilts. Her uncle, T’o Toucan, is full of silly jokes, but he is also a serious environmentalist who is worried about the fate of global forests and indigenous people.

Mariposa makes friends with some very poor village children - Roberto, Celia, and Norma. She has adventures learning about blow guns, trading at a village, fishing for piranhas, and helping scientists record botanical data on a canopy walkway.

One special day a shaman tells her that with the spirit of the rain forest she could bring something back home and that she could dance for the forest. She wonders what he means.

T’o Toucan takes her to look for pink dolphins, to study birds with an ornithologist, and hosts a village celebration and dance to celebrate their visit.

On the airplane going home she talks to a tribal Amazonian who is on his way to a global summit to complain about rain forest destruction. That conversation helps her to make a decision.

When Mariposa goes back home to Los Angeles, she and Monica ask the principal if they can hold a school dance to raise money for rain forest preservation. Mariposa speaks at a school assembly and the science club helps to advertise the project. They have a very successful, festive "Rain Forest Dance" and raise a few hundred dollars. Mariposa learns that children can speak up, take action to save the earth's ecosystems, and help poor children who need books and shoes.

About the Author

Sandra Fernandez-Achenbach was born in Toronto, Canada. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Education degree from Laurentian University in North Bay, Ontario. She has lived, studied, and worked as an educator in Canada, Mexico, California, and Hawaii. Most of her twenty years of teaching experience has been with elementary and middle school students, but she has also taught English as a second language to adults. Teaching is both a challenge and a joy for her. She enjoys helping with school gardening, science projects, cultural performing arts, and Student Council activities. She loves geography and encourages her students to study the earth. She has done volunteer work at the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii, at a library on the Amazon River, and in orphanages in Zambia and Mexico. In her spare time she likes to study the bible, write, hike and travel, learn foreign languages, make music, and attend martial arts or dance classes. She cares deeply about protecting the environment and is a member of the Sierra Club, the Simi Valley Tree Advisory Board, and the Rancho Simi Trail Blazers.

Sandra Fernandez-Achenbach has travelled extensively around the world on her own. She says, "Seeing the planet helps me understand the hearts and minds of other people. The purpose of my life is to serve others and I believe in life long learning. Ultimately, I thank God for his incredible handiwork. The diversity, majesty, and beauty of all the plants, animals, and precious people that inhabit the earth must be cherished and preserved. May we all work together to save threatened ecosystems and help the poor of all nations."

She presently lives with her husband, Jim, in Simi Valley, California. Together they hope to continue doing volunteer work with the poor.