Armando and the Amazing Animal Race | Awareness Tour

Armando and the Amazing Animal Race Awareness Tour presented in partnership* with Diana Schaffter and The Children’s Book Review.

Buckle up for a global adventure as we launch the virtual book tour for Armando and the Amazing Animal Race by Diana Schaffter!

Set off on a breathtaking race across continents with twelve-year-old Armando and his spirited grandmother as they chase endangered animals, outwit danger, and unravel a long-buried family mystery. Bursting with heart, humor, and wild adventure, Armando and the Amazing Animal Race is a globe-trotting tale of courage, connection, and the surprising paths that lead us to the truth.

. . . fantastically engaging story. . . [Diana’s] writing is absolutely terrific, and I love Armando, who is such a wonderful protagonist, perfect for a Middle-Grade novel. The story of the race and Armando’s search for his mother as well as his renewed relationship with his father are so well drawn and authentic (super fun as well as poignant) The story’s environmental focus is wonderfully handled. . . All in all, you have something very special here.

—Jennifer Rees, Editor, Explorer Academy series, National Geographic

Readers who join us on this tour can enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a copy of Armando and the Amazing Animal Race signed by Diana Schaffter! In addition, one lucky grand prize winner will also receive an exclusive adventure-themed bundle that includes a themed T-shirt, a set of vibrant stickers featuring all seven endangered animals from the story, three beautifully illustrated maps, and, to top it all off, a $50 Amazon gift certificate. Don’t miss your chance to win this one-of-a-kind prize pack that celebrates adventure, discovery, and the wild wonders of the world!

Armando and the Amazing Animal Race Virtual Tour Dates

Armando and the Amazing Animal Race Book Giveaway

About the Book

Armando and the Amazing Animal Race

Written by Diana Schaffter

Ages: 8-12 | 350 Pages

Publisher: Sea Otter Press (2025) | ISBN: 978-1-0690795-1-0

Publisher’s Book Summary: Two unlikely teammates on a grueling continent-hopping race. Their mission: to photograph 7 endangered animals in just 70 days… and solve a baffling family mystery.

When twelve-year-old Armando stumbles on his mother’s old race journal and convinces his wacky grandmother to join the Amazing Animal Race—the same race his mother disappeared on eight years earlier—his summer explodes into a wild global adventure. Armed with night vision goggles, bear spray, and support from his tech-savvy friend Jinny, Armando faces a charging polar bear, poachers’ bullets, and ruthless rivals as he races across the icy Arctic to the steamy Amazon rainforest. What starts as a race to help endangered animals and the environment spirals into a treacherous quest to unravel a mystery that will change Armando’s family—and his life—forever.

Packed with thrilling action, laugh-out-loud moments, and unforgettable characters, Armando and the Amazing Animal Race takes readers on a whirlwind journey of self-discovery across the globe. This heart-warming tale of family, mystery, and wildlife conservation will inspire adventurers, both young and old, to see the world and themselves in a whole new light.

“. . . a whirlwind of an environmentally minded tale. . .”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS – “OUR VERDICT: √ GET IT!”

“. . .fantastically engaging . . . super fun as well as poignant. . .”
—JENNIFER REES, editor, Explorer Academy, National Geographic

“. . . will resonate with anyone who yearns for adventure…”
—MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

Buy the Book

About the Author

Diana Schaffter is no stranger to adventure. She is fluent in Thai, has traveled to over fifty countries, raised her two sons overseas, and lived in seven countries in Asia and Eastern Europe for forty-two years, including two years in Pyongyang, North Korea, where her husband was the head of the UNICEF office. Diana has worked with Cambodian refugees, taught in international schools, opened schools in Thailand and Vietnam, and has been an educational consultant to non-governmental organizations and the Ministry of Education in Laos.

In researching her story, she followed in the footsteps of her main character, Armando, traveling to Southern India to search for wild cobras with the Irula tribe, to Vladivostok, Russia, to see a Siberian tiger with a local conservationist, to the home of the elusive desert leopard in the Judean desert in Israel; and into the thick Brazilian Amazon rainforest to visit an Indigenous tribe and to photograph a pied tamarin monkey. Wherever she has lived, Diana has witnessed the power of human resilience, cooperation, and caring, which inspires her writing. Diana and her co-adventurer husband, Tim, now live in Sidney, BC, Canada, where she continues to write, give talks in schools and communities, and work with young people.

For more information, visit: dianaschaffter.com.

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Thanks for following along with us on Diana Schaffter’s Armando and the Amazing Animal Race awareness tour!