From School Library Journal
Grade 8 UpA marvelous trip of discovery, gracefully and grippingly told. Quintana introduces readers to two East African cultures through Morengru, a young man born of a Kikuyu mother and Masai father, and therefore truly of neither group. He now lives alongside, but not exactly among, the Kikuyu, peaceful civilized farmers whom he views through the eyes of his Masai upbringing, thus showing this hunting peoples scorn for what they consider to be earth-grubbers. Morengrus aloof arrogance in this part of the novel will appeal to teens. After accidentally killing a Kikuyu tribesman, Morengru is ceremonially expelled from the village, and he refuses to do the expectedto plead for his readmittancethus exiling himself. However, when he sets off on a solitary journey as a man without a country, his pride begins peeling away. Readers see his fears and the pain of being an outsider. Then he falls in with a troop of baboons and becomes, through a bloody fight with their leader, their new king. He learns the meanings of their various calls and gestures and the structure of their tribal order. The climax comes when Morengru is finally able to contribute to the troop and he realizes that his humanity demands that he return to live among humans. This remarkable novel deserves to be placed alongside such classic looks at the human condition as Lord of the Flies and A Separate Peace, and recommended to readers who loved Gary Paulsens Hatchet (Macmillan, 1986) and are seeking other adventures at a more advanced level.Coop Renner, Coldwell Elementary-Intermediate School, El Paso, TX
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
2nd review
Moregaru's tale falls in the ranks of those that tell of young teens and their fight to fit in and not find themsleves as outcasts. Many of today's teens whether in the southern state of Alabama,the ineer city of Detroit or the outskirts of urban Washinton, D.C. can identify with feeling "left out". Mangaru knows the pain of not being fully accepted by two truly different tribes in Africa. The Kikuyu who have throughout all of time survived as gatherers anad the Masai as hunters of game. The agressive nature of one and the calm nature of the other drive neither to accept Mangaru. Only as he wanders barren Africa does he begin to discover that he can refind himself within the enfolds of humanity again.