Uanda the Panda

In the forests of Wolong, where the bamboos reach twenty meters and the mist takes the shape of those who are no longer there, a hunter who had forgotten how to laugh found among the roots of an old tree something that weighed eighty-seven grams and changed everything.

He called her Uanda. It was the name he had been saving for his daughter.

What followed has no name in any zoology book, nor in any philosophy men have written to explain how love works. A panda who learned to eat rice, to walk upright, and to ask questions no panda had ever had to ask before. A man who learned that parenthood has nothing to do with species but with patience.

With the wisdom of Confucius woven into every gesture and the forest of Wolong as witness, 'Uanda the Panda' is a book that carries the name of children in its title but is truly for everyone who has ever felt they did not quite fit anywhere and discovered that this was not a lack but the beginning of something.

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart. And never forget who taught you to walk."

 - Confucius