Baboon Book Review By Johanna Verenkotte
I read the book Baboon. It is written by David Jones and has 169 pages. It was published in 2007 by the publisher Annick Press. I would give this book three stars out of five. I thought it was interesting and exciting because it mist need a lot of imagination to write a book were a boy is turned into a baboon. As the story evolves, Gerry, the main character, gets to know all the other baboons. This is very nicely described in detail. But I didn’t like the ending as much. I thought it was surprising that Gerry dies as a baboon, but is alive again as a human.
I thought this book was better than Chu Ju’s house or Homeless Bird, both written by Gloria Whelan. Both books were a sad tale about two unwanted girls that have no place in life but then get married and live happily ever after. I think Gloria Whelan just knows one type of writing; weepy and excessive but with a wonderful happy ending. On the other hand, Baboon is more interesting to read and is more exiting. Also, when we read Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan, I already could predict what would happen in the end; Koly, the main character of Homeless Bird, finds a husband she loves and gets married, as if that were the only aim in life.
The Point of View in this book is third person restricted because we follow Gerry the whole time learn about what he does. The setting is the grasslands of Tanzania, Africa and in an airplane. It takes place in modern time today.
There are many conflicts in this book. There is the inner conflict where Gerry as a baboon, sees his dead body, and doesn’t understand what is going on. He is scared and freaks out that he is a baboon. Hating this situation, he thinks he is dreaming or hallucinating. He is also frightened of the rejection of his parents and is afraid that he can’t communicate with them. This is a person vs. person conflict where Gerry is both the protagonist and antagonist. Another conflict is that he has a quarrel with a different baboon, called Lothar, and is being bullied by him all the time. Lothar takes his food and tries to pick a fight with Gerry. But this conflict ends when Gerry kills Lothar. This was a person (baboon) vs. nature (baboon) conflict, where Gerry is the protagonist and Lothar is the antagonist.
Gerry is the main character. He is a 14 year old boy, who is pretty uninterested in the baboons his parents find so amazing. He almost has no friends, except a pessimistic boy named Milton who doesn’t really care about him. I think he is lonely because he moves the whole time and just has Milton as a friend. Another character trait of Gerry is portrayed when he sees the body of Stan, the pilot. Gerry brings the body away because he sees that one animal already ate of the pilot’s arm. He feels sorry for Stan even tough; when Stan was still alive he couldn’t stand him. This shows he is a compassionate and responsible person and even as a baboon thinks and acts like a caring human-being. I enjoyed this book partly because I thought it was well written and explained in detail. I think
Gerry was displayed very well because they are a lot of young boys that are totally
uninterested in everything. In the book, I also learned about the behavior of baboons in their
natural environment and how they communicate with each other. The only thing I did not like
in this book was the ending. As I said above, the ending is pretty weird. Gerry dies in a fight
with a leopard but then awakes alive as a human in the hospital. I thought that part of the book
wasn’t as good as the rest. It seems that the author just didn’t want to continue with the story
in a logical way. He just wanted to end the story short and painless. But apart from the
ending, I think this is a pretty interesting and exciting book.
By Johanna Verenkotte
I read the book Baboon. It is written by David Jones and has 169 pages. It was published in 2007 by the publisher Annick Press. I would give this book three stars out of five. I thought it was interesting and exciting because it mist need a lot of imagination to write a book were a boy is turned into a baboon. As the story evolves, Gerry, the main character, gets to know all the other baboons. This is very nicely described in detail. But I didn’t like the ending as much. I thought it was surprising that Gerry dies as a baboon, but is alive again as a human.
I thought this book was better than Chu Ju’s house or Homeless Bird, both written by Gloria Whelan. Both books were a sad tale about two unwanted girls that have no place in life but then get married and live happily ever after. I think Gloria Whelan just knows one type of writing; weepy and excessive but with a wonderful happy ending. On the other hand, Baboon is more interesting to read and is more exiting. Also, when we read Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan, I already could predict what would happen in the end; Koly, the main character of Homeless Bird, finds a husband she loves and gets married, as if that were the only aim in life.
The Point of View in this book is third person restricted because we follow Gerry the whole time learn about what he does. The setting is the grasslands of Tanzania, Africa and in an airplane. It takes place in modern time today.
There are many conflicts in this book. There is the inner conflict where Gerry as a baboon, sees his dead body, and doesn’t understand what is going on. He is scared and freaks out that he is a baboon. Hating this situation, he thinks he is dreaming or hallucinating. He is also frightened of the rejection of his parents and is afraid that he can’t communicate with them. This is a person vs. person conflict where Gerry is both the protagonist and antagonist. Another conflict is that he has a quarrel with a different baboon, called Lothar, and is being bullied by him all the time. Lothar takes his food and tries to pick a fight with Gerry. But this conflict ends when Gerry kills Lothar. This was a person (baboon) vs. nature (baboon) conflict, where Gerry is the protagonist and Lothar is the antagonist.
Gerry is the main character. He is a 14 year old boy, who is pretty uninterested in the baboons his parents find so amazing. He almost has no friends, except a pessimistic boy named Milton who doesn’t really care about him. I think he is lonely because he moves the whole time and just has Milton as a friend. Another character trait of Gerry is portrayed when he sees the body of Stan, the pilot. Gerry brings the body away because he sees that one animal already ate of the pilot’s arm. He feels sorry for Stan even tough; when Stan was still alive he couldn’t stand him. This shows he is a compassionate and responsible person and even as a baboon thinks and acts like a caring human-being.
I enjoyed this book partly because I thought it was well written and explained in detail. I think
Gerry was displayed very well because they are a lot of young boys that are totally
uninterested in everything. In the book, I also learned about the behavior of baboons in their
natural environment and how they communicate with each other. The only thing I did not like
in this book was the ending. As I said above, the ending is pretty weird. Gerry dies in a fight
with a leopard but then awakes alive as a human in the hospital. I thought that part of the book
wasn’t as good as the rest. It seems that the author just didn’t want to continue with the story
in a logical way. He just wanted to end the story short and painless. But apart from the
ending, I think this is a pretty interesting and exciting book.