Redd is a young red panda with an adventurous spirit. In Redd Goes To The ER he doesn’t listen to his mother and he wanders to the river alone. There he greets Manu, a Ganges River Dolphin, and he gets hurt. His guardian angel, Vivian Jean, a Large Blue Butterfly has Redd call 9.1.1.

An Indian Hornbill, Elona with the forest police, arrives quickly. She brings the wise old Master Ori, a vegan snow leopard to carry Redd to the ER. The story follows Redd’s experience at the ER as Nurse Isha, a sloth bear and Dr. Manit, a chiru treat him for his injury. Redd deals with losing three of his claws and self-reproach for not listening to his mother. The conversation around this elevates Redd while reinforcing the importance of listening to his mother. Throughout the story he experiences a range of emotions including: happiness, fear, self-reproach, and self-acceptance.

Therapist and co-author Lenny Lynne Lunden, LPC specializes in building strong, healthy relationships with self and others. The conversations between adult and child in the story are the conversations she guides adults to have with the children in their care. These conversations are designed to enhance self-esteem and good decision making skills.

This is the first in the Redd’s Adventures Discovering Self-Love picture book series designed to facilitate empowering, validating, informative conversations between adult and child. As such, it is meant to be read to children from ages 4-6. Children 6-8 enjoy reading Redd’s Adventures on their own or with adults.

The Redd’s Adventures series features endangered and threatened species as well as self-love and acceptance conversations. Each story has a unique appendix section with images and information about the species featured in the story; conservation tips and a list of conservation organizations; and parenting tips related to scenes in the story. Redd’s World Publishing donates 10% of profits to wildlife conservation organizations.

Parents are raving about Redd Goes To The ER. They appreciate the rich illustrations throughout the book and love the introduction of different species and wildlife conservation messages. They recognize the value of the adult/child conversations that take place in the story. These conversations are different than conversations many adults often have with children. Heidi Gordon and Lenny Lunden are on a mission to change the typical conversations adults often have with children to more validating and empowering conversations, instilling a strong, healthy sense of self, while raising awareness and a sense of responsibility for the wildlife on our planet.