The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps
by Jeanette Winter
(Schwartz & Wade, 2011)
I loved last year’s Me…Jane, the Jane Goodall picture book biography by Patrick McDonell, but I had never gotten around to reading this other one published at the same time.
It’s another winner! What a great pair of books to introduce Jane Goodall to kids. Me…Jane focuses on Jane’s childhood and the inspiration for her life’s work.
The Watcher is meatier in scope and shares Jane’s entire life story up to now. It’s still short enough to be a great read-aloud, though. The occasional quotations from her own writings add a lot. For instance, I love:
“David Greybeard has–yes–he has TAKEN BANANAS FROM MY HAND. So gently. No snatching.”
Start with Me…Jane. Ask your students to talk about their favorite activities and toys now. Then brainstorm with them ways in which their current favorites could be fortune-telling objects–ways they might predict things the kids might do with their lives as adults. Then share The Watcher with them. Talk about how Jane’s early passion helped shape her whole life. This is a great lead-in to a discussion on passion, conservation, biology, career choices…so many things!
(Review copy kindly provided by my library)
Books Together has the Nonfiction Monday roundup today. Go learn something great!
Hi Laura! Fun to see you over at Nonfiction Monday. I too love this line:” So gently. No snatching.” And isn’t that the best cover?!
Thanks, Jeanne! I’m hoping to participate a couple of times per month:>) I don’t know whether Goodall always wrote in this accessible manner, or whether Winter did an exceptional job of choosing quotations, but they really work. And YES on the cover! :>)
Hi Laura! Fun to see you over at Nonfiction Monday. I too love this line:” So gently. No snatching.” And isn’t that the best cover?!
Thanks, Jeanne! I’m hoping to participate a couple of times per month:>) I don’t know whether Goodall always wrote in this accessible manner, or whether Winter did an exceptional job of choosing quotations, but they really work. And YES on the cover! :>)
I didn’t know about this book, either, Laura. It sounds great. Thanks!
I hope you like it, Linda! The two books really complement each other.
I didn’t know about this book, either, Laura. It sounds great. Thanks!
I hope you like it, Linda! The two books really complement each other.
Jane Goodall is my hero….and this sounds like a wonderful book about her….andI love the inclusion of her quotes.
Oh, Tara–check it out. And Me…Jane, too. They are both fabulous!
Jane Goodall is my hero….and this sounds like a wonderful book about her….andI love the inclusion of her quotes.
Oh, Tara–check it out. And Me…Jane, too. They are both fabulous!