Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas

Prior to 1950 the world knew very little about primates. While many researchers tried to understand and observe these creatures in their natural habitat, they all failed and came back frustrated and dejected. And then....three women, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas, all students of

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Louis Leaky, changed everything that we knew about primates and changed what we understood about ourselves. While they worked on different continents with different primates at different times, these three women challenged the world and showed us just what we have left to learn. This book weaves a story and introduces the reader to the woman and their work...and leaves us wanting more.

For me Maris Wicks artwork is what sells this book. Don’t get me wrong Ottaviani’s writing and storytelling are par none, but Maris’s art takes this story and makes it special. In fact when I heard she was going to be illustrating this book I couldn't wait to see it because I love her style. Not familiar with who she is? Well check out her illustrations for this book and you'll see why I love her style so much. Her character design effortlessly captures the movement of not only the human characters, but the grace of the various primates they studied. It feels like we're out in the jungle with Jane, Dian, and Birute watching these amazing animals with them. Maris's color choices are bright and vibrant and help breathe life into the story making it feel like we can reach out and shakes hands with Jane or brush the fur of a great ape. If I were to make a comparison of who Maris reminds me of it would be Smile by Raina Telgemeier.

Ottaviani’s writing style is pitch perfect for this type of book and helps the reader feel like we’re a part of the adventure vs. reading a history book. We're actively participating in the research and the adventure and learning along with these three women. What I really like about this book is that he intertwines their stories together to help create one cohesive narrative and flowing story. In fact he leaves me wanting to know more and makes me want to tell other people to go read about these three amazing scientists.

Were parts of the story imagined to make a good story? Yes, but it helps readers better understand these three powerful and free thinking women who challenge preconceived notions on how things should be and helped make the world their own. Ottaviani’s and Maris provide a biography and an explanation of how the book was created to help readers understand what was changed and how they can learn more. I highly recommend this book for all ages and anyone that wants to learn more, not only about primates, but about the three amazing women that helped us begin to understand them. 5 out of 5 stars.

ARC provided by Gina at FirstSecond

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A really charming graphic novel with biographical profiles of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas. Told in the first person from three different points of view, the personalities really came across. The fonts and color scheme helped to differentiate between narrators once all three women

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had been introduced. I wish it had been longer and the details more plentiful! This could be a good book for inspiring middle or high school student girls to get involved with the sciences, although there were a lot of references to Louis Leakey's womanizing habits.

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A wonderful graphic novel, by all admission a slightly fictionalized version of the true story of the three women who studied three of the most iconic ape species. It doesn't attempt to tell everything about their stories -- Dian Fossey's murder is glossed over, although we do see her grave -- but

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the book does convey their passions and how, oddly enough, all three women were connected.

This is one of Ottaviani's best books and shows artist Maris Wicks as a star in the making.

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This non-fiction graphic novel is both fun and educational. Really. The art is simple and cute, while the text fills in some unusual details. I learned that these three women, world-renowned scholars, conservationists, and primatologists, were all students of the same researcher, Louis Leakey

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(something I hadn't known before). In fact, the book is largely centered on that connection. That means that there is not much detail here beyond the development of ideas related to Leakey and how each scientist got her start, so those who are already familiar with all three will not find much revelation, but since the brief book will take you all of 30 minutes to read, it's worth a look anyway. I enjoyed the personal feel of the interwoven stories, which was successfully supported by the visuals. Overall, while not mind-blowing, this was a neat package, perhaps perfectly situated to intrigue a new reader into learning more. And I think that's exactly what it was meant to be.

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This non-fiction graphic novel combines the stories of three of the greatest primate researchers: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas. Each woman, given their assignment by anthropologist Louis Leakey, studied a different animal. Jane worked with chimpanzees, Dian observed gorillas, and

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Birute watched orangutans. All three of these scientists was incredibly dedicated both to the work and to the amazing animals that they worked with.
Teens with an interest in nature or science will enjoy this book. Because the author and illustrator do not go very deep into these women’s stories, readers may want to seek out more books on them and their work. The surface nature of what is included was most likely done so that all three women could be included. Also, this book is technically nonfiction, but there have been some changes made to make it a better story and fit the women’s lives together more smoothly. The authors mention this (though they do not mention the specific changes) and include their sources and other books to go to for further reading.

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A fascinating and accessible glimpse into the research of three famous female scientists who studied the lives of primates in new ways.

I really enjoyed the book overall, but I agree with Nicole that it could be a little confusing at times to tell who was talking. Also, something about the phrase "Louis Leakey discovered them" on the flap of the cover really annoyed me. I don't know how else I would have phrased it, but seeing that

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a man "discovered" all these amazing female scientists really bothered me.

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Graphic Novel. Nice but very brief telling of the development as anthropologists of the trio of Louis Leakey's three brightest students: Jane Goodall who studied Chimps in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, Dian Fossey who studied gorillas in Rwanda, and Birute Galdikas who studied orangutans

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in Indonesia.

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My VOYA: 4Q 4P

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It gives a fairly brief overview of three women, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas, who studied chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, respectively. I had no idea of the connection between the three women before reading this novel and

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found myself wanting to know more about them after finishing, which is always a sign of a good book to me. The illustrations capture the details of observing and studying animals well, showing the hardships and tedium of field study, followed by the pure joy of making a breakthrough. My only complaint is that, although each character has a distinct voice, it is sometimes difficult to tell who is speaking.

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Oh, how I wish the talented Raina Telgemeir had illustrated this graphic novel. Otherwise, it would have simply soared. While the three profiles of these iconic women scientists were interesting, the lettering was a times clunking and schmoosed together, and the illustrations a bit flat.

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Recommended, for sure, because kids will read it because of the format and awesome cover.

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"Primates..." gives a brief overview of the work of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Galdikas. All three women were championed by anthropologist Louis Leaky and studied chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, respectively. The book delves into the hardships of working in the field as well as the

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dedication these women had for their work. This is a graphic novel, which I would have available in the classroom as a resource for students that might respond better to its format than to the format of a traditional book.

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Prior to this book, I had some basic knowledge of Goodall, Fossey, and the Leakys, and I was not really familiar with Galdikas. This book helped to flesh out their stories. Some things were left to inference or asked mature readers to rely on context outside of the book to fully understand certain

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events. I believe this was to make the book more appropriate for young readers (example: the books doesn't explain what happened to Digit or Fossey). The story gave the impression that Mary Leaky was mostly just a disgruntled wife, without really including any of her own accomplishments. It was interesting to learn more about all of these scientific pioneers, along with their connections to one another. This is a good introductory read that will encourage you to learn more.

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I am a huge fan of Ottaviani. His ability to take otherwise dry nonfiction content and make it an incredibly enjoyable read is second to none. This was a great work of the genre and is highly recommended.

I picked up this book at the bookstore and was instantly smitten with it. However, at the time I was feeling guilty about how much money I'd been spending on books, so I put it back down and checked this out at the library instead.

I may have to buy it anyway.

Let me write you a love song to this

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book. Everything about it was enchanting. Of course, I already knew that I was interested in the topic -- having read a few books by Jane Goodall and seen a biopic on Dian Fossey. I had also recently read about Louis Leakey (in A Brain for All Seasons), though I hadn't put it together that it was the same Leakey who recruited women and sent them off into the jungle to observe primates until reading this. So it was no surprise to find myself in love from the very first page. The illustration style was endearing. The details chosen and the way each person was introduced and conveyed showed just how different the three women are/were, despite all that they had in common. And while I'm certainly not an expert on the subject, it seemed that Leakey's "woman problem" was handled pretty evenly and matter-of-factly -- his affairs with students/mentees (he was a married man), sometimes unwanted sexual attention, while simultaneously putting women on a pedestal as naturally superior researchers.

These three women (and Leakey, of course), changed what it means to be human. They altered our relationship to the rest of the animal kingdom forever. This is a fantastic introduction to their work, but could definitely only be considered an introduction. It has definitely made me want to learn more about both Leakey and Galdikas.

Always more books to read! (Helpfully, there is a lovely bibliography at the back.)

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This is a YA graphic novel that tells of the lives and great ape studies of Jane Goodall (chimpanzees), Dian Fossey (gorillas), and Birute Galdikas (orangutans).

This was really good! I’ve read about Goodall and Fossey before, but nothing about Galdikas (though I’ve now added one of her books

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to my tbr!). Because it’s a fairly short graphic novel that covers all three women, it skips a lot of detail, but I really enjoyed the information that was there, and I loved the illustrations! There is also a very nice bibliography included at the end. Beautiful graphic novel about three amazing women.

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Quick and interesting.

I've always been interested in Jane Goodall's study of chimpanzees, and this book also has the stories of Dian Fossey and her gorillas and Birute Galdikas and her orangatans. I haven't heard or read as much about the other two women, and I enjoyed learning some basics about their studies.

I really

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loved how all three women were provided with their opportunities by the same man and that they all knew each other and were friends. It made them more personable to me. The three definitely had different personalities, and they shine through in the different ways that their individual stories are written.

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biography/history in graphic format (mostly pretty true). Very brief forays into the research lives of Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and Birute Galdikas and how they intersected. Serious fans of these women will probably want more information, but maybe a kid picking this up would become interested in

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biology? For me, this was mostly forgettable.

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Absolutely fascinating graphic novel mini biographies of leading women scientists. I had no idea that Leakey ties these three women together, nor how their work connected and built over time. Really, really well done.

Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks’ Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas tells the stories of the three primatologists and their work with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, respectively. Ottaviani and Wicks begin with how the Leakey’s work in the

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Olduvai Gorge, Kenya, and other parts of Africa helped to uncover elements of human evolution and pointed the way toward studying other primates to learn about early precursors to modern humans. Each of the women that Ottaviani and Wicks profile found their own way to primates based on childhood or later interests. Even more inspiringly, they all came to know of and appreciate each other, with Goodall paving the way for Fossey, who in turn laid the path for Galdikas. Louis Leakey was an advisor to all three and Ottaviani and Wicks manage to capture the complex portrait of how he advanced science while also crossing the line of propriety with some women students. Meanwhile, the women had to overcome structural barriers in science as well as local barriers to their work from governments and nature itself. They also had their flaws, but that makes them more approachable especially for young readers who may feel weird for their interests. Ottaviani and Wicks’ Primates is a great introduction to these three scientists for younger readers.

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