Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Goldikas

"I  suppose you think gorillas can't understand you. Of course, you alsoprobably  think we can't walk upright."Try  knuckle walking for an hour.  You tell me: Which way is more  fun?"--  from THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN by Katherine Applegate"Of  course, it turns out that much of what we scientists 'discover' iswell known by  local people. Our friend Mr. Hamzah was quite blasé when I toldhim about a  walking orangutan."Okay,  I've just come back upstairs after doing the excitedly jumping upand down bit,  telling my young housemates about this brilliant graphic novel;how it is a  great introduction to these three world-changing femalescientists, and how it also had me literally rolling on the floor  -- while beingvery careful not to tell them (or you) the details  about what is so funny. What a great piece of storytelling and  artistry!Having  been so fond of Patrick MdDonnell's ME...JANE, and having been so head over  heels about Katherine Applegate's IVAN, I was thrilled to pullthis one out  of the box and have at it.  Other than this book's first section about Jane Goodall, some of which I already knew (having followed up ME...JANE  by going to YouTube and watching a 60 Minutes piece on Goodall), this was,  otherwise, all pretty much uncharted territory for me.  I mean, I'd heard of Dian Fossey and anthropologist Louis Leakey; Ihadn't heard of Biruté Goldikas; and I must confess my ignorance as to many  details of these women's respective work, or how they  and Leakey were all connected.. Feeling  like this is one of those times where less is more, I'm going  to keep it somewhat brief and simply urge you to take my word for  it: You want this book.  Back in an age when so many potential female  scientists found impossible barriers to surmount (See, for  instance, ALMOST ASTRONAUTS by Tanya Lee Stone and LET ME PLAY by  Karen Blumenthal.), and thanks in large part to Leakey's belief in the abilities  of women, these three women began their engagements in fieldwork that  radically changed mankind's understandingof other primate species.  Jane  Goodall was inspired to go to Nigeria and study chimpanzees.  Dian Fossey  was inspired to go to Rwanda and study mountain gorillas.  Biruté Galdikas  was inspired to go to Borneo and study orangutans.  And they weren't just  inspired.  They did it.  Each of the three arguably became the  world's foremost expert in her respective field. This  book, which is partially fact, partially fictionalized  storytelling,will play well with audiences between ages ten and  eighteen.  I love the way that we transcend the surface bio  stuff, and get to really enjoy the very different personalities of  these three women. You  want to do a little something to help save endangered primate species?   Do you want to help inspire more girls to get excited about  the sciences?  Get this book into lots of hands.  The writing and  artwork make it one inspiring piece of adolescent literature.   978-1-59643-865-1  144 pages  Ages 9 and up   Recommended by:  Richie  Partington, MLIS, Librarian, California USA Richie's Picks _https://richiespicks.com_ (https://richiespicks.com/)