Narrated by Bella, a wise Newfoundland, Protecting Piping Plovers describes her efforts to understand conflicts between wildlife, people, and pets. Bella is assisted in her work by Katie, her human, and Blue, her son. The endangered Piping Plovers are beautiful shorebirds who return each year to nest on the specific remote beach where they were born. Flying back from wintering grounds, the birds face an evolving mix of wild predators, beach construction near their nesting areas, and harassment by people and pets. Bella meets a young plover, visits a fox family and neighborhood cats, and organizes an appeal to the local Town Council to help protect the tiny shorebirds. Written for young scientists and their families, "Bella, the Wildlife Ambassador: Protecting Piping Plovers," blends delightful watercolor illustrations with stories about wildlife's challenges. Kirkus Review praises the book "as an engaging environmental message from an endearing canine character" and adds, "Bella has an appealing personality; her protectiveness is touching, and, as an "Ambassador," she's even polite to cats...Dolan presents her ecological message with an effective mix of facts and anthropomorphic storytelling. Oskner's softly shaded watercolor illustrations are lovely and capture the animals' distinctive charms." Kirkus Review praises the book "as an engaging environmental message from an endearing canine character" and adds, "Bella has an appealing personality; her protectiveness is touching, and, as an "Ambassador," she's even polite to cats..." Dolan presents her ecological message with an effective mix of facts and anthropomorphic storytelling. Oskner's softly shaded watercolor illustrations are lovely and capture the animals' distinctive charms." SouthCoast Almanac writes: "Goosewing Beach in Little Compton is a popular beach for sunbathers. It also is a Nature Conservancy preserve known for its piping plovers, those tiny endangered shorebirds who make headlines for singlehandedly shutting down swaths of beaches when they nest.The conflict of these groups is chronicled in Comptonite Katie Dolan's children's book Bella, the Wildlife Ambassador. The book follows how the narrator, a nine-year-old Newfoundland, befriends animals all along the shore and appeals to the local town council to protect her feathered friends." KATIE DOLAN is an environmental journalist who lives with her husband, Bella, and Blue in Rhode Island and Colorado. She has written for Nat Geo, a Forestry Foundation, and Island Conservation. While managing The Nature Conservancy's Hudson Valley programs, she also published on climate change issues. She has an MA in environmental studies from Yale and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she also taught courses on Animals in Literature. Please visit her Author's website at katielangedolan.com for additional information. JUDITH OKSNER studied liberal and fine arts in college and graduate school and taught for many years. She has worked for Pearson Publishing on curriculum development for k-12 in accordance with the Common Core standards. She illustrated Barking by Edith Milton as well as Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo and A Very Good Pig by Sy Montgomery. Please visit her website at Judithoksner.com for additional information.