Endangered by Eliot Schrefer

Youth Fiction - 3.5 stars

Endangered is a compelling tale of Sophie, a young American girl visiting her mother at her bonobo sanctuary in Africa. After her mother leaves for a release site, revolution breaks out and the sanctuary is attacked by roving bands of militant rebels. Sophie and the bonobos must hide in the jungle and travel to find her mother. Together, they will fight to keep safe, to eat, and to survive.

Megan and I read this 2012 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature in her Montford Book Club before the end of the last school year. In the book, Schrefer asks readers to ponder what safety means to them, the importance of sacrificing to help others, and what strengthens family relationships. We really enjoyed the book, and it was an eye-opener for Megan, who had never read about Africa's revolutionary culture. She also enjoyed reading about the bonobos and their almost human interactions. I highly recommend it for the teen crowd.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Fiction - 3.5 stars

Little Bee is the perfect book club book. The story of a Nigerian immigrant (Little Bee) to the United Kingdom and the woman she searches for and finds (Sarah), the books deals with real issues. For Little Bee and her fellow immigrants, the issues include the reasons for illegal immigration (horrors from the home countries), life in the British detention centers, and the struggle to survive outside the centers and to "belong." For the other characters in the book, issues like adultery, depression, suicide, and making the right choices are just a few of the issues that make this a complex story full of emotion. Cleave does an excellent job of creating these very different characters, yet portraying them and their issues as very similar, which makes them fit together perfectly. I enjoyed it - easy read and interesting subject matter, and I recommend it to anyone wanting a good discussion book.

The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John

Youth Fiction - 3.5 stars

Because this is the next book club meeting book, and some folks haven't read it yet, I'll refrain from saying too much. However, this is a wonderful adventure story that both Megan and I really enjoyed. Part tragedy, part mystical adventure, part story of unlikely friendship, it is the story of Martine, a young girl who moves from London after the death of her parents to South Africa. There she has dangerous and wonderful adventures, and learns of a family legacy that she never dreamed she had. The only complaint Megan had was that she never could picture what Martine looked like. I'll have to agree that the detailed descriptions of main characters were missing (reason for the 3.5 stars), but it was a lovely story altogether.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Fiction - 4 stars

I loved this book! It is the story of the Price family, a Georgia family who moves to the African Congo on a mission trip in the early 1960s on the brink of modern Zaire's "independence" from Belgian control. Told from the perspectives of the female Prices, each chapter gives a different perspective on the same historical events, and this makes for a fantstic read. You truly get to know the characters as they remain consistent throughout the book. Kingsolver describes life in rural Africa with raw, vivid, and heartbreaking detail.  It spans two + decades, and is a truly satisfying tale. I am so glad Zachary is reading this for school as it gave me the chance to borrow it for a little while.