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.

The Call of the Wild and White Fang, by Jack London

Fiction - 5 stars

Megan presented three books for her book club to choose the one their next going to read, and White Fang was one of her three choices. While they did not pick that one to read, I decided to read it anyway, I got the combo of The Call of the Wild and White Fang on my nook, and I really couldn't read one without the other.

So, I began with The Call of the Wild, London's masterpiece about Buck, 1/2 St. Bernard, 1/2 Scotch shepherd who lives a comfortable life as a family dog in California. He's taken from his pampered surroundings and shipped to Alaska to be a sled dog. In Alaska, the landscape is as harsh as life itself during the gold rush of the 1890s. All but forgetting his earlier existence, Buck succumbs to his instincts, encountering danger and adventure as he becomes the leader of a wolf pack and undertakes a near-mythical journey, ultimately to answer the undeniable call of the wild. The details come from London's knowledge of Alaskan frontier life, and they make the writing exquisite. Once it was finished, I immediately began reading White Fang.

Although written much later, White Fang has often been called a companion novel to The Call of the Wild because it takes the story and reverses it. The story begins with a glimpse into the life of a wolfpack, hunting and finding prey often among the sled dogs of the 19th Century Klondike Gold Rush. White Fang's mother is part dog, part wolf, and when she and another wolf have puppies, White Fang is the only survivor.  Living in the frozen north, he learns to hunt in the wild, and then is "adopted" by Gray Beaver, an Indian living in a camp on the Mackintosh River. White fang is the alpha male, and he is well-known for his ability to strike dogs dead in an instant. When Gray Beaver enters Fort Yukon with White Fang, he is immediately noticed by Beauty Smith, a cruel man who manipulates Gray Beaver with whisky and gambling to gain White Fang as a debt payment. Beauty places White Fang in the dogfight ring where he is undefeated, until a pitbull is introduced and White Fang is nearly destroyed by the men's vicious cruelty. He is saved by Weedon Scott, and under Scotts care, White Fang is lucky enough to experience the one thing that can save him human love. He gradually comes under the spell of man's companionship, and when Scott returns to his family home in California, White Fang is is constant companion and eventually proves his worth to everyone.


I can't say enough about these books. I enjoyed them from the moment I began, and while the cruelty is hard to read, it gives a true glimpse into a period of history that many of us don't know about. People, as well as their dogs, had to be tough survivalists, doing anything to stay alive. Also, the adventurers who went to Alaska to seek fortune in the gold rush were not all peace-loving men. They were a mix of entrepreneurs and alcoholics, low-lifes and fur traders, businessmen and ex-convicts. London again had first-hand knowledge of these men, and depicts their lifestyle vividly in both books.

I love them both and recommend them to anyone who likes animals or is interested in the history of our country. 

Ape House by Sara Gruen

Fiction - 4 stars

From the author of Water for Elephants, Ape House is the story of a group of bonobos and their caretakers from a language lab at the University of Kansas. After a series of events gives the bonobos a prime time television audience, it is up to a reporter who met the bonobos before the events to uncover a story that will change all lives involved forever. I loved this book! Gruen writes with humor and imagery, and I found myself staying up late to finish the chapter/page/etc. Warning - not for children as the bonobos love of sexual acts is a prominent part of the story.

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.