LULU AND THE OTHERS

A bonobo raised in a human household must navigate the confusing transition from her familiar world to life among her own species.

Schrefer crafts a narrative that probes questions about identity and belonging. His author’s note reveals the story’s foundation in real rehabilitation efforts, particularly the case of Mimi, a bonobo who spent her first 15 years in a human home before joining a sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lulu’s dual nature—ape body, human upbringing—creates a cognitive dissonance she cannot articulate, but Ford’s illustrations powerfully express her feelings. His colored pencil and ink artwork employs a sun-drenched yellow-green palette that bathes domestic interiors and the jungle scenes in warm, welcoming light, visually suggesting continuity rather than opposition between Lulu’s two worlds. Ford varies his compositional approach across both environments, shifting between sweeping double-page spreads and focused vignettes that highlight telling details—Lulu using the toilet in her human home, wild bonobos climbing trees and eating fruit. Ford renders bonobo facial expressions with remarkable psychological acuity; Lulu’s wide-eyed dismay upon arriving at the sanctuary, her uncertain glances at the wild bonobos, and her reassuring smile when, later, she comforts a newcomer all convey complex emotional states. Schrefer’s matter-of-fact prose establishes normalcy before gently dismantling it, respecting young readers’ capacity to grasp cultural displacement. The tale’s honesty about Lulu’s struggle rings true.

A moving narrative about the complexity of belonging in two worlds.