Gr 8 Up-Fourteen-year-old Sophie rescues Otto, a young chimp, while spending the summer at her mother's bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When the president is assassinated and war breaks out, Sophie has a chance to return home to the United States but cannot bear to leave Otto. Their journey to safety takes them into the bonobo enclosure, but the real danger begins when they venture out and risk encountering rebel soldiers. Schrefer excels at imbuing the bonobos with individual personalities and endearing quirks. The bond between Sophie and Otto is so expertly depicted that it almost seems like a parent/child relationship, and readers will readily relate to the anguish the girl feels as she debates leaving her pet behind. The novel tackles tough ethical dilemmas without offering easy answers and delves into racial politics (Sophie's mixed racial heritage influences how others treat her), giving the book a nuanced tone. Schrefer portrays painful scenes in unflinching detail, and his powerful use of language drives the story forward. However, Sophie often seems preternaturally skilled for a teenager who has spent limited time in the Congo. Several moments stretch plausibility, such as when she rescues Otto from a group of soldiers or when she becomes leader of the bonobo tribe. Additionally, because Sophie is recounting the story as an adult looking back, her voice is often far more mature and polished than most adolescent protagonists. Yet despite the flaws, this is a poignant and moving story.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Schrefer (The Deadly Sister) shines a light on an oft-overlooked part of the world with this intense adventure set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When Sophie, a half-American, half-Congolese 14-year-old, visits her mother at a bonobo sanctuary, her biracial origins make her feel out of place, but she finds purpose by bonding with and caring for Otto, an abused juvenile bonobo. Civil war breaks out while Sophie's mother is away, and Sophie is inadvertently trapped in a country beset by starvation, roving bands of killers, and natural hazards. To stay alive, Sophie and Otto live off the land, travel in secret, and coexist with other bonobos, while seeking escape or refuge from the chaos. Schrefer spares no detail, fully exposing the horrors of war as he chronicles Sophie's struggle for survival. This drama is clearly written from the heart, smoothly educating readers about the perilous dichotomy of the Congo and the heart-wrenching plight of the endangered bonobo, without sacrificing the intensity of the story. Sophie, meanwhile, demonstrates herself to be tenacious, resourceful, and strong, making decisions that, while not always smart, are driven by compassion. Ages 12-18. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

SOMETIMES during an act of heroism, it's the savior who ends up being saved. Such is the case in Eliot Schrefer's dazzling, big-hearted novel "Endangered," which has been named a National Book Award finalist in the category of young people's literature. Fourteen-year-old Sophie has just left the United States, returning to the Democratic Republic of Congo, "where even the bullet holes have bullet holes." There she will spend the summer with her Congolese mother, who runs a sanctuary for bonobos. In quick order, Sophie purchases a sick baby bonobo, whom she names Otto, suffers her mother's wrath for putting money in the hands of poachers and is swept up in a political rebellion. This is just the beginning of a chain of events for Sophie. She must grow up quickly, and much of her dawning insight comes from her contact with bonobos. Soon she is looking out a car window trying to figure out what Otto is staring at - the start of a journey to see the world through bonobo eyes. This skill will prove essential to survival as Sophie and Otto hide out in the jungle from the rebels, living off the land as they struggle to rejoin her mother. It's hard enough being a human teenager, but Sophie has to approximate the outlook and abilities of a bonobo in order to scrape by in the wild: identifying edible plants and insects, negotiating the strict bonobo hierarchy and making a nest to sleep in. Sophie has never cared much for the animals who monopolized her mother's attention, but now she falls in love. Schrefer doesn't make Otto talk or act like a human for this to be plausible; drawing the intelligent, emotional, social animal so accurately provides magic enough. Otto looks into Sophie's eyes without self-consciousness, "harder," Sophie says, "than any human had ever done." Lovely. But then, she says, "he found a termite in my hair and got distracted, not returning his attention to me until its brittle waving legs were crunching between his teeth." Lovelier. As riveting as the action is, it's the nuanced portraits of the characters, human and ape, that make the story so deeply affecting. Sophie herself, with complicated feelings toward her absent mother, is full of spunk and kindness. Her mother is dedicated and loving, but when angry stops being a person and becomes "something like weather." Otto, however, becomes the story's real protagonist. The descriptions of him are so visceral I sometimes felt I was holding a bonobo, not a book. When Sophie first meets the sick little orphaned ape, "he leaned against my shin for a moment, then extended his arms to be picked up. I lifted him easily and he hugged himself to me, his fragile arms as light as a necklace. I could make out his individual ribs under my fingers, could feel his heart flutter against my throat." Otto is fun, smart, brave. Safely ensconced in Sophie's arms, he "barks" at anyone he perceives as a threat, and when contented, vocalizes in soft "murps." But Congo is a violent, desperate country, and Schrefer's descriptions portray its terrors - the constant threat of rape Sophie faces, and the scenes of slaughter she witnesses - without becoming overly graphic. By the time Sophie reunites with her mother, she has achieved a hard-won understanding about sacrifice and forgiveness. She's also learned how helping animals can help people too. As for Otto, Schrefer manages a deft and pleasing outcome that eludes many wild animal stories. In this instance, doing right by the little bonobo doesn't break the heart of the person who loves him. Vicki Constantine Croke reports on animal issues for WBUR in Boston and is writing a book about J. H. Williams, who led the only company of elephants for the Allied forces in World War II.

Congolese-American Sophie makes a harrowing trek through a war-torn jungle to protect a young bonobo. On her way to spend the summer at the bonobo sanctuary her mother runs, 14-year-old Sophie rescues a sickly baby bonobo from a trafficker. Though her Congolese mother is not pleased Sophie paid for the ape, she is proud that Sophie works to bond with Otto, the baby. A week before Sophie's to return home to her father in Miami, her mother must take advantage of a charter flight to relocate some apes, and she leaves Sophie with Otto and the sanctuary workers. War breaks out, and after missing a U.N. flight out, Sophie must hide herself and Otto from violent militants and starving villagers. Unable to take Otto out of the country, she decides finding her mother hundreds of miles to the north is her only choice. Schrefer jumps from his usual teen suspense to craft this well-researched tale of jungle survival set during a fictional conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Realistic characters (ape and human) deal with disturbing situations described in graphic, but never gratuitous detail. The lessons Sophie learns about her childhood home, love and what it means to be endangered will resonate with readers. Even if some hairbreadth escapes test credulity, this is a great next read for fans of our nearest ape cousins or survival adventure. (map, author's note, author QA) (Adventure. 12-16)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

After 14-year-old Sophie leaves her home in Florida, where she lives with her father, to visit her mother's bonobo sanctuary in Congo, she rescues a young bonobo from its captor. Sophie names her new friend Otto and the two bond, but after civil war breaks out, Sophie and the young ape must flee from the sanctuary and attempt to survive in the jungle against overwhelming odds. With cruel revolutionaries everywhere, Sophie's life is constantly in danger. The story veers perhaps into improbability when Sophie, unwilling to abandon Otto, rejects two offers to leave the country. Still, Schrefer creates a vividly realized setting and a harrowing portrait of the chaos of a country at war. Best, though, is Schrefer's portrayal of the extraordinary bond between Sophie and Otto, and the close, awe-inspiring look at bonobos in general. Nature-loving teens will be captivated.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist

Schrefer packs a wealth of incident -- too much, perhaps -- into a compelling survival story set in contemporary conflict-ridden Congo. When narrator Sophie, fourteen, arrives for her yearly visit to her Congolese mother's animal sanctuary, she becomes attached to a rescued baby bonobo she names Otto -- so much so that when the political situation destabilizes dangerously and she's scheduled to be airlifted back to Miami, she can't leave him behind. In one of the novel's early dramatic moments, she jumps out of the armored United Nations airport van and flees into the sanctuary's thirty-acre bonobo enclosure with Otto, thereby escaping the fate of all the other humans (Sophie's mother is conveniently away at a wildlife preserve on a remote island), who are at that moment massacred by rebel soldiers. But before readers can settle in to this story line -- can Sophie survive in the jungle amongst sometimes-hostile adult bonobos? -- the author hustles her out of the sanctuary, and she and Otto embark on a harrowing journey through the war-torn countryside to find her mother. Sophie fights off illness, leeches, a drunken boy warlord, and yet another UN evacuation threat to get to her mother, all the while putting Otto's welfare before her own. What pulls the reader through the shifts in plot and focus are the strength and immediacy of Sophie's voice and the palpable connection between her and Otto; as well, the novel may provoke readers to think about a wide range of issues, from the value of human versus animal lives, to the causes and effects of war, to the nature of love. martha v. parravano (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.