Rescued by Eliot Schrefer

Xhaiden | High Technology High School, Grade 9

Rating: ****

Rescued by two-time National Book award finalist Eliot Schrefer, is a poignant and fascinating story about a boy named John and his fuzzy, orange pet orangutan Raja - a gift from his dad. John and Raja grow to be inseparable, no longer defined as a boy and a pet, but as a boy and his brother. However, John doesn’t live in a perfect world: his parents divorce, and he is separated from his closest simian friend. Raja, now alone with John’s father, is a great burden. John’s responsibility and only goal is to get Raja somewhere safe, somewhere where Raja can live the life best for him, but it isn’t easy to find a home for a Sumatran Orangutan, already a young adult.

This book with its fast-paced plot is hard to put down and this makes it a great read for teens to young adults, provided they can stomach some of the gruesome events like when John’s finger was bitten off or someone was shot in the leg. Luckily, these are not graphic at all, so they do not pose too much of a problem. By reading this novel, I gained insightful knowledge about the behavior of orangutans and human-ape interaction. I also found it interesting to observe how John's thoughts about what to do with Raja changed throughout the book, thus conveying the complications in his situation and making the book more realistic. All in all, the plot encompassing John and Raja’s journey was truly interesting, informative, and inspirational. Through this engaging tale, Schrefer tackled the issue of animals in captivity while pulling some heartstrings in the process. I definitely enjoyed this book (albeit not as much as the first two in Schrefer’s Ape Quartet) and I just can't wait to read the final book in the series: Orphaned.