W. H. Hudson

Hudson (1841-1922) was an author, naturalist and ornithologist, born in Argentina to US settlers of English and Irish origin. In 1874 he settled in England and was a founding member of the RSPB. This novel, first published in 1892, appeared under the pseudonym of Henry Harford.

The curious call of an unseen bird lures a young European explorer deeper and deeper into the jungle, where he encounters the source of the siren song -- a lovely, half-wild girl with mysterious powers. Thus begins the romance between Abel, a revolutionary hiding among an Indian tribe in the Venezuelan rainforest, and Rima, who speaks the languages of birds and longs to return to the land of her birth to be reunited with others of her kind.Written by a British naturalist with a deep love and knowledge of wilderness areas, the richly colored tale transports readers to the lush atmosphere of the Amazonian outback. Originally published in 1904, this haunting classic offers a narrative of lyric beauty as well as a fascinating link between nineteenth-century Romanticism and modern environmentalism.

W. H. Hudson's Green Mansions, the basis of movies, comics, and television shows, is "a romance of the tropical forest." The story gains poignance because the setting Hudson, a naturalist, describes vividly is vanishing. Copper Penny Press books are in an easy to read and easy to read aloud format.