Orphaned

by Eliot Schrefer

First published 2018

Snub feels pushed aside when her mother bears a new baby. The young gorilla yearns to venture beyond her family's territory in prehistoric Africa. Then catastrophe strikes their world. Snub suddenly becomes responsible for her infant sibling's survival in a landscape transformed by disaster. She discovers they are not the only survivors wandering this changed wilderness. Strange new predators move through the forest on two legs instead of four. When Snub encounters an orphaned member of this alien species, she makes a choice that will bind their fates together. The meeting between gorilla and early human creates unexpected bonds but also deadly conflicts. Snub must navigate between protecting her own kind and this fragile connection across species. Her journey reveals how the earliest encounters between apes and humans shaped both their destinies.

Genres: animals, african-literature, adventure, coming-of-age

Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: cross-species-connection, found-family

Setting: Africa

Period: Prehistoric

336 pages · Hardcover · Scholastic Press

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