Tracking Wild Chimpanzees in Kibira National Park [Library Binding]

Joyce Powzyk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1988

The author describes her visit to the The Kibira National Park to see chimpanzees, and shares her observations of people, culture, and wildlife in Burundi as well.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The straightforward title refers to incidents that do not begin until one quarter of the way into the book. The first part is devoted to Powzyk's arrival in the rain forests of Burundi, descriptions of the landscape, her bartering with a vendor and other details of East Africa. She repeats herself within a short span of text: "We lit . . . lanterns, as the sun had already set," and "Several candles were lit, as the sky was still dark."The book's pace picks up when she and a companion actually begin to track the chimpanzees and finishes on a note about the global importance of the rain forest. This is an interesting idea from the outset, with much appeal for children, but it is bogged down by clumsy writing, belabored language and disorganization. The type is dense for the large-scale illustrations, although these realistic, well-delineated watercolors do carry an immediacy lost in the text. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-6 Powzyk brings a careful artist's eye to her wildlife peregrinations as her previous books Wallaby Creek (1985) and Tasmania: a Wildlife Journey (1987, both Lothrop) have shown us. Here she and a naturalist friend visit the montane rain forest of Burundi, Africa, during the wet season, hoping to observe elusive long-haired chimpanzees in Kibira National Park. Powzyk records the search through thick wet vegetation, up hills and down ravines, until the shy primates are found. She also records her impressions of other wildlife seen along the way, from blue monkeys to giant forest squirrels. Each page is adorned with her luminous watercolors, either complete detailed depictions of Kibira's wildlife, or small, delicate grace-notes: a turaco feather, a Burundian postage stamp. Also included are a map of Africa (with an enlarged inset of Burundi), a glossary, an animal index, and an artistic diagram showing the vertical distribution of primate species residing in Kibira National Park. Elegant, aware, personal, and rewarding to readers, produced in a spacious, graceful format. Patricia Manning, Eastchester Public Library, N.Y.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co Library (March 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688067344
• ISBN-13: 978-0688067342
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,397,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, January 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tracking Wild Chimpanzees in Kibira National Park (Hardcover)

Tracking Wild Chimpanzees is a wonderful children's book. It really is a book about Burundi in central Africa, although, as the title suggests, the storyline is about tracking wild chimpanzees in the beautiful, but threatened Kibira National Park -- a high altitude rain forest in the mountains of Burundi.

The illustrations are wonderful and provide an accurate look at a slice of Burundian culture.

I'm sorry to hear that it is out of print -- but don't let that stop you from trying to find it.