Baboon

Author: David Jones
Age: Grade 5+
Rating: 5/5

About: Gerry's parents are scientists. They study baboons on the Africa savannah for 6 months of the year, and they always bring Gerry with them. Though he's not too thrilled about it. But things get worse for him before they get better. On their way to their new camp, the plane flies into a lightning storm and the plane crashes. Gerry is thrown from the plane. When he wakes he's a baboon.

Thoughts: This is one of the hottest books from my list. It's been checked out all summer so far.

I really liked this one. I was hooked from the point of the plane crash, which is a few pages in. It's got some creepiness -faceless baboons in some dream sequences. It's tense -especially when he begins to realize that the longer he's a baboon the more he forgets about being a person. And it is clear that the author is passionate about baboons and did some considerable research for this book. All this combined with his efforts to survive and become human again make this book great for recommending.

Plus it's less than 200 pages, but doesn't feel rushed so it's great to sell to reluctant readers.