Simple text and large pencil-and-oil pictures are set on expansive white pages to introduce the five species of great apes: orangutan, chimp, bonobo, gorilla, and...guess who? Each of the first four gets its own sequence of four or five double-page spreads that provide basic information in large type about diet, behavior, and social structure ("Bonobo chatters and hoots and calls to her friends, while feasting on figs high off the ground"). Suggesting a shared adult/child audience, footnotes in a smaller cursive type offer a bit more detail ("Bonobos live in the rain forest of the Congo basin in central Africa"), and the last, unillustrated, spread makes the connection between the apes and people ("We humans are part of the great ape family, too"). The close-up portraits of the apes, intimate but not sentimentalized, will draw young lookers in, and they won't be let down by the concise, respectful text. A single back page provides a helpful map, an index, and three conservation websites.

Brief and simple text augmented by expansive, intricately expressive, pencil and oil drawings introduces several species of great apes: orangutan, chimp, bonobo, and gorilla to young readers. Jenkins, a conservation biologist, has superbly turned his writing talents to enthuse children in the natural world. Young readers learn about each of the four great apes through a sequence of over-sized, double-page spreads that provide basic information in large bold type about diet, behavior, and social structure. Each section engages a shared audience of child and adult through footnoting more details. White, a former zoologist, personifies each ape's activities through imposing yet playful, brooding but wistful, scenic portraits. The nuances of the apes' actions including intimate composure and authentic brown and black compositions come to life through bold brushstrokes, detailed drawings, and photographic lighting. These vivid illustrations will support retention of the basic information and the images long after the book returns to the shelf. This is a must purchase for your second and third grade readers and your early childhood listeners. Map. Web sites. Index. Highly Recommended. Donna Steffan, Education Consultant, Library Technology and Community Learning, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

The premise is simple: introduce readers to four of the five members of the great ape family (the fifth member is actually the reader). But in the hands of White, a former zookeeper making her picture book debut, this becomes much more than a garden-variety survey. Working in oil and pencil, White portrays orangutans, chimps, bonobos and gorillas as imposing and playful, brooding and wistful-in other words, as having psychologically complex, fully realized personalities. The pictures are consistently stunning: using bold brushstrokes and theatrical lighting, White compels readers to savor the subtle nuances of browns and black that compose each animal's fur. Jenkins's (The Emperor's Egg) economical, conservation-oriented text ably sets each scene ("Bonobo chatters and hoots and calls to her friends, while feasting on figs high off the ground") while occasional captions add information about the apes' habitat or behavior. But this book isn't really about reportage; in fact, the portraits are set against white sweeps with only minimal propping to suggest the environment. What seems to matter for White is making an intense emotional connection between subject and reader. And she succeeds-the great apes have found their John Singer Sargent. Ages 3-7. (Dec.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

K-Gr 3-Jenkins avoids anthropomorphizing in this simple introduction to four rare apes-chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas-and provides basic facts about their daily eating and sleeping habits. The highly textured and naturalistic pencil and oil illustrations deftly blend subtle color and back-and-white scenes and are made for group sharing. However, the book suffers from the use of too many fonts of varying sizes without logical reason, from a bold 1 inch to a very small cursive. The book concludes by comparing humans to the four others and explains the negative impact that we've had on their survival. A final map that shows where the great apes live and how many survive provides needed context for young readers. A 10-item index makes this book marginally useful for reports; students will need to use the Web addresses of three conservation organizations as a starting place to learn more.-Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.