Endangered by Eliot Schrefer (Jr/Sr High) – 900Lexile
Foraging for food, drinking from a muddy pond, sleeping in nests at the tops of the trees are all common habits for the type of ape called a bonobo, but not so much for humans. When Sophie finds short-term safety in the bonobo enclosure at her mother’s bonobo refuge in the war torn Democratic Republic of Congo hiding from militia, she is forced to eat, sleep and live like the bonobos. Eventually she knows she must escape the enclosure with her little adopted bonobo, Otto, in order to survive the war and locate her mother. Even though she doesn’t want the other bonobos from the enclosure to follow her, when they do, she learns to rely on their help making it through the jungle. A realistic novel with political undertones may not be your first choice for a book, but Schrefer’s story of Sophie’s survival is one book you’ll want to read to the end, and then find its sequel, Threatened.
Foraging for food, drinking from a muddy pond, sleeping in nests at the tops of the trees are all common habits for the type of ape called a bonobo, but not so much for humans. When Sophie finds short-term safety in the bonobo enclosure at her mother’s bonobo refuge in the war torn Democratic Republic of Congo hiding from militia, she is forced to eat, sleep and live like the bonobos. Eventually she knows she must escape the enclosure with her little adopted bonobo, Otto, in order to survive the war and locate her mother. Even though she doesn’t want the other bonobos from the enclosure to follow her, when they do, she learns to rely on their help making it through the jungle. A realistic novel with political undertones may not be your first choice for a book, but Schrefer’s story of Sophie’s survival is one book you’ll want to read to the end, and then find its sequel, Threatened.