Endangered (24 page)
The book that cemented my desire to write about bonobos was the terrific and heartfelt
Bonobo Handshake
by Vanessa Woods, detailing her time spent learning about and living with bonobos in Congo. I took frequent inspiration from her accounts of her real-life experiences. Vanessa was so patient with my questions and queries, and it was through our conversations and her book that I discovered Claudine André, founder of Lola Ya Bonobo. Learning about Madame André's years of work creating a great ape sanctuary in one of the most corrupt countries on earth, I felt my affection for bonobos become fascination and eventually determination. For those of you who read French, her memoir,
Une Tendresse Sauvage
, is fascinating. The character of Anastasia in
Endangered
is an homage to Mimia, one of André's most precious bonobos who came to the sanctuary after living a life among humans in Kinshasa and unfortunately died in childbirth in 2010. I've borrowed Madame André's method of naming bonobos after places in Congo.
The gorillas had Dian Fossey, the chimpanzees have Jane Goodall, and the bonobos have Claudine André. She's perhaps the most charismatic person I've met, and the bonobos couldn't ask for a better figurehead. Evelyne Pitault and Jeanne d'Arc, two long-term volunteers, made me feel very welcome at Lola. The surrogate mothers Yvonne Vela, Henriette Lubondo, Espérance Tsona, and Micheline Nzonzi walk softly and carry big sticks. Thanks, Nurse Anne-Marie Ngalula, for the many strolls around the sanctuary. Terese and John Hart, I'm so glad you were able to take time out to have lunch right before setting off for Kindu.
Hairy little Oshwe, thanks for spending your banana-and-peanut breakfasts on my lap.
Of all the books about Congo, I keep coming back to Bryan Mealer's
All Things Must Fight to Live
. Bracing, distilled, and unfiltered. Bryan was also kind enough to take time out from lawn mowing to talk to me on the phone. For learning more about life in Congo during a time of conflict, Human Rights Watch's reports “Trail of Death” and “The Christmas Massacres” were difficult reading, but very informative. Michela Wrong's
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz
, Jason Stearns's
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
, Adam Hochschild's
King Leopold's Ghost
, Charles London's
One Day the Soldiers Came
, Jeffrey Tayler's
Facing the Congo
, Tim Butcher's
Blood River
, and Philip Gourevitch's
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
were also useful.
Those wanting to learn more about bonobos would do well by starting with Vanessa Woods's book. Also very useful were Frans de Waal's
Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape
and
Our Inner Ape
, Desmond Morris's
Planet Ape
, Paul Raffaele's
Among the Great Apes
, and Boesch, Hohmann, Marchant, et. al's
Behavioral Diversity in Chimpanzees and Bonobos
.
NOVA
also released an episode, titled “The Last Great Ape,” all about bonobos. Radiolab's episode 702, reporting on a chimpanzee named Lucy, who was raised by humans and later released in Gambia, was also inspirational.
Marie Rutkoski helped me edit this book over pasta, Daphne Grab over scones, and Donna Freitas over olive oil cake. The rest of my writing group, Marianna Baer, Elizabeth Bird, Kekla Magoon, and Jill Santopolo, did most of their work over chicken sandwiches. All were invaluable. My mother remains my best line editor. My partner, Eric Zahler, has listened to more facts about bonobos than anyone ever should have had to, and I'm so grateful that his passion for them rivals my own. Next time I go to see the bonobos, he's coming with me.
Team Bonobo wouldn't be complete without the tireless and inspired help of my agent, Richard Pine, who has been one
of this book's fiercest advocates. And David Levithan: If it weren't one hundred percent morally reprehensible I'd smuggle you a baby bonobo to look after. If you took care of her even slightly as well as you took care of this book, she'd be one lucky little ape.
Eliot Schrefer is the author of
The Deadly Sister
,
The School for Dangerous Girls
,
Glamorous Disasters
, and
The New Kid
. He lives in New York City when he is not visiting bonobos in Congo. Visit him online at
www.eliotschrefer.com
.
Copyright © 2012 by Eliot Schrefer
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920
.
SCHOLASTIC
,
SCHOLASTIC PRESS
, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schrefer, Eliot, 1978 â
Endangered / Eliot Schrefer. â 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Sophie is not happy to be back in the Congo for the summer, but when she rescues an abused baby bonobo she becomes more involved in her mother's sanctuary â and when fighting breaks out and the sanctuary is attacked, it is up to Sophie to rescue the apes and somehow survive in the jungle.
ISBN 978-0-545-16576-1 (hardcover)
1. Bonobo â Juvenile fiction. 2. Animal sanctuaries â Juvenile fiction. 3. Animal rescue â Congo (Democratic Republic) â Juvenile fiction. 4. Children of divorced parents â Juvenile fiction. 5. Congo (Democratic Republic) â History â 1997 â Juvenile fiction. [1. Bonobo â Fiction. 2. ApesâFiction. 3. Animal sanctuaries â Fiction. 4. Wildlife rescue â Fiction. 5. Divorce â Fiction. 6. Racially mixed people â Fiction. 7. Congo (Democratic Republic) â Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.S37845En 2012
813.6 â dc23
2012030877
First edition, October 2012
Cover photo by Anup Shah/Getty Images
Cover design by Whitney Lyle
e-ISBN: 978-0-545-47001-8
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.