First, I must disclose that I have an attachment to the story in that one of my relatives worked at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo when Umande was born and was one of his primary caregivers during the entire time Umande was in Colorado Springs. I have never met the author and know virtually nothing about her, though, so my bias is toward the story not the author.
This is a children's story so it is a very, very simplified version of Umande's story. It has to be or it would be too much for young readers. But, suffice to say, there were many, many more people other than the four mentioned in the book who devoted hundreds of hours of their personal lives and time to teach Umande to be a proper gorilla. The problem with Umande's mom wasn't her age as the book indicates, it was the fact that mothering is a learned behavior for gorillas and she had never learned. So, as hard as the keepers and vet worked to teach Umande how to be a gorilla, they worked equally hard to teach Kwisha to be a mother. Unfortunately, they weren't successful in teaching Kwisha in time for Umande to be raised by her but they successfully got Umande to the point where he could have a gorilla mom. One of the things this book glosses over is that if Umande didn't learn the proper way to behave, he would never be accepted by another troop.
For Ms. Faulconer, the point of the story is the ultimate "adoption" of Umande. And, that is a beautiful, poignant story. However, for me, an equally important story is the thousands of hours that anonymous people put into getting Umande to the point where he COULD be adopted. In fact, the majority of the book is devoted to exactly this, although she only talks about four of the people involved.
This book would make an excellent gift for an adopted child or adoptive family. However, I have purchased a number of them to give to coaches and teachers as thank you gifts. Just like Umande's story where he needed so many people to teach him how to be a well-behaved gorilla, human kids need many people to teach them to be productive and successful humans. And, just like the vast majority of the people who worked with Umande to teach him proper gorilla behavior so he would be accepted by his new mom and new troop were never recognized for their roll in his success, most people who work with kids do it without any recognition. This book is a wonderful way to say thank you to them.
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