The Dodo has become the single most precious creature on the planet and it must be rescued immediately. Without delay, The Animal Intelligence Agency agents with Rana who uses ‘Jungle Speak’ to communicate with animals are assigned to this urgent mission.

The Dodo bird went extinct in the late 1600s, but in Venita Coelho’s Dead as a Dodo, the extinct bird gets a new lease of life. Rana, Bagha, the brave tiger and Kela, the mischievous Langur all make a comeback in this delightful story. This time around, the three protagonists are on Mission: Dead as a Dodo. While on the heels of a missing hangul deer, the trio stumbles upon an extinction operation where a shadowy villain steals the last specimens of this highly endangered species. The adventure takes the trio from Delhi to Mauritius to North America, in a quest to save it.

Coelho spins a real tale about conservation and international wildlife trafficking while managing to keep the suspense till the very end. Her characters are spunky and the narrative is a lovely way of introducing children to different aspects of natural history and at the same time imparting a powerful message that it is in our hands to ensure that today’s endangered species, like the hangul deer, don’t go the way of the dodo.