Review by New York Times Review
A pair of biographies connect a pre-eminent primatologist's lifelong work to her childhood fascinations. WHEN you consider Jane Goodall's happy British childhood, largely spent outdoors and filled with horses, dogs, chickens and pet turtles - earthworms tucked beneath her pillow at night - and her adult life as the world's pre-eminent authority on chimpanzees and an influential conservationist, you can't help wondering: why haven't there been more biographies of Goodall for young readers? Two new picture books, "Me . . . Jane" and "The Watcher," help fill the gap, and both, wisely, connect Goodall's childhood to her later achievements. Even as a young girl, Goodall dreamed she would one day travel to Africa and become a naturalist - not an unusual childhood fantasy. But Goodall actually went on to study under the famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, and to work in Tanzania. Her research methods were unconventional. Rather than assigning numbers to chimpanzees and studying their behavior from a distance, she immersed herself in the life of a chimpanzee troop, gradually winning its members' trust. The qualities of patience and observation she displayed as a child serve her well as a primatologist. "The Watcher," by Jeanette Winter, a lively and elegant introduction to its subject, opens with 5-year-old Jane sitting in a chicken coop, determined to find out where eggs come from. Though the biography is conventional in its chronological account of Goodall's life, there is a poetic quality to the writing - a meter that tempts one to read the book aloud. Winter's text is spare (''Jane quietly watched an English robin at her window for days and weeks"), and the artwork, with its strong colors and flat shapes, almost childlike. Her decorative style, pleasing as it is, fails to express the characters of the individual chimpanzees, an important part of the story. But the paintings arc more sophisticated than they might first appear. Patterned foliage echoes the rhythm of the words. Goodall is often a tiny figure in a rich landscape -a formulation that feels true to her story. "Me ... Jane," by Patrick McDonnell (the creator of the comic strip "Mutts") takes a different approach. McDonnell, working with the cooperation of Goodall, makes no attempt to catalog the arc of her career. Instead, he writes about her childhood, which was spent in the company of a stuffed toy chimp named Jubilee and books like "The Story of Doctor Dolittle" and "Tarzan of the Apes." With engravings of animals and natural artifacts stamped in soft colors and McDonnell's simple line and wash drawings. "Me ... Jane" evokes the charming journals of a child naturalist. Some of Goodall's own sketches and drawings are included, and they feel at home here. McDonnell's skill as a cartoonist enables him to express Goodall's joy, wonder and satisfaction with a simple stroke of the pen. "Me ... Jane" ends with an illustration of Goodall falling asleep next to Jubilee "to awake one day ... to her dream come true." A moving photograph shows the adult Goodall reaching out to a baby chimpanzee, which is reaching back to her. The book closes with a page about the naturalist's life and work, and a heartfelt message from Goodall herself. For any child interested in animals, exotic locales or how dreams can actually come true - have I left anyone out? -both books provide a satisfying and complimentary introduction to an extraordinary human being. Following her dreams: Jane Goodall cherishes a stuffed toy in "Me . . . Jane," top, and lives among the chimpanzees in "The Watcher." Steve Jenkins has written and illustrated many science-related books for children, including, most recently, "Time to Eat," written with Robin Page.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [May 15, 2011]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Little Jane loves her stuffed animal, a chimpanzee named Jubilee, and carries him everywhere she goes. Mainly, they go outdoors, where they watch birds building their nests and squirrels chasing each other. Jane reads about animals in books and keeps a notebook of sketches, information, and puzzles. Feeling her kinship with all of nature, she often climbs her favorite tree and reads about another Jane, Tarzan's Jane. She dreams that one day she, too, will live in the African jungle and help the animals. And one day, she does. With the story's last page turn, the illustrations change from ink-and-watercolor scenes of Jane as a child, toting Jubilee, to a color photo of Jane Goodall as a young woman in Africa, extending her hand to a chimpanzee. Quietly told and expressively illustrated, the story of the child as a budding naturalist is charming on its own, but the photo on the last page opens it up through a well-chosen image that illuminates the connections between childhood dreams and adult reality. On two appended pages, About Jane Goodall describes her work, while A Message from Jane invites others to get involved. This remarkable picture book is one of the few that speaks, in a meaningful way, to all ages.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this picture book biography, McDonnell (Wag!) examines Goodall's very English childhood and her unexpected wish-nurtured by early exposure to Tarzan-to live and work in Africa. On the left, earnest text appears on cream-colored paper embellished with delicate vintage images of trees and animals. On the right, by contrast, McDonnell's winsome ink and watercolor drawings come across as sweetly goofy. Jane spends most of her time sitting quietly, watching living things. "One day," McDonnell writes, "curious Jane wondered where eggs came from. So she and Jubilee [her beloved stuffed chimpanzee] snuck into Grandma Nutt's chicken coop... hid beneath some straw, stayed very still... and observed the miracle." (The hen looks just as surprised as Jane.) Best of all is a spread that shows Jane fantasizing living like Tarzan's Jane in Africa; she swings on a vine through the jungle, dressed in a sensible cardigan and a tartan skirt. Back matter fills in readers about Goodall's accomplishments as an adult; McDonnell's concentration on her childhood fantasies carries a strong message to readers that their own dreams-even the wildly improbable ones-may be realizable, too. Ages 3-6. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-In this tender homage to the famous primatologist, McDonnell gives readers a peek into Jane Goodall's formative years. Even as a young child she had an abiding love of the natural world and took every opportunity to study and enjoy the plants and animals around her. "It was a magical world full of joy and wonder, and Jane felt very much a part of it." Her constant companion, whether climbing her favorite tree or exploring her grandmother's chicken coop, was her stuffed chimpanzee, Jubilee. Her fascination with Africa was presaged by the drawings and puzzles she made as a child for her club, the "Alligator Society," as well as her fondness for Tarzan of the Apes. Her dream of going there to live with the animals and write about them took hold when she was 10 and the fact that she has devoted her life to that mission is a testament to her dedication and an inspiration for young dreamers everywhere. The artist's engaging, almost naive cartoons, done in India ink and watercolor, set the perfect tone. As the girl reads and learns more about Africa, the drawings become more fanciful with a giraffe and elephant appearing in the English countryside, and Jane and Jubilee swinging on vines through the trees. These charming images are complemented throughout with 19th- and early-20th-century engravings and photos of Goodall with her beloved chimps. The package is an appealing and satisfying introduction to a well-known scientist and activist. Concluding notes give more information about her and her life's work.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Where Jeanette Winter's The Watcher (rev. p. 144) devotes just five of its forty-eight pages to Jane Goodall's childhood, Me...Jane devotes all but two spreads to the great primatologist's formative years. And despite its rather cheeky title (justified by the young Jane's devotion to Edgar Rice Burroughs), McDonnell's book is the more inspirational. His Jane, along with her stuffed toy chimp Jubilee, studies nature wherever and however she can; as with Winter's book, Jane's observation of a hen laying an egg is highlighted as a key moment. But study is only part of the picture, as Jane rejoices in the simple activity of just being outdoors: "It was a magical world full of joy and wonder, and Jane felt very much a part of it." Jane dreams of traveling to Africa and, in a wonderful sequence of page turns, goes to sleep [page turn], wakes up an adult in her tent [page turn], and is living her "dream come true." And here McDonnell's homey, earth-toned pen and watercolor pictures give way to that most famous of all Goodall photographs, where the young scientist and an even younger chimp reach across their worlds to touch hands. The simple and intimate paintings are accented with casually arrayed stamped motifs and some of Goodall's childhood drawings; a note about Goodall's current projects and "A Message from Jane" are appended. roger Sutton (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
(Picture book/biography. 2-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
