Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Me...Jane

Booklist starred (March 15, 2011 (Vol. 107, No. 14))


Preschool-Grade 3. 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

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