Primates

I really enjoyed this! The art is very cute and it really shows how tough and smart these 3 women were in their pursuits of science.

The end casually and vaguely mention's how Dian Fossey's death was a tragedy so I looked her up later and apparently she was MURDERED? The panel shows her writing “Digit Digit Digit” (the name of a gorilla she loved, who was killed by poachers) in a notebook with a shaky hand and so I thought maybe she had a stroke or something? but she was MURDERED WITH A MACHETE. IDK, I'm guessing it was left out of the book for fear of being upsetting to a MG audience. Or maybe it's common knowledge? But I didn't know so I have to imagine most children don't know. Anyway, I think it's very interesting that DIAN FOSSEY WAS MURDERED, possibly by a former student, and maybe that could be included in her biography. in my experience KIDS LOVE MURDER.

It also glosses over some of the racism/cultural appropriation of white ladies in Africa... to some extent I can see just wanting to highlight their accomplishments but then it is kind of assuming a white audience??

mmm well probably I should just read some adult nonfiction if that's what I want, overall it's a very fun and interesting introduction to these scientists and to the importance of their findings on different primates. Great for animal lovers and young scientists!

Really, really enjoyed this light, speedy, semi-biographical account about three very interesting women: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas (who I didn't know about before). They are apparently known as the “Trimates”. I appreciated learning about the strange passion these women lived their lives by - Goodall and Fossey had no formal training in primatology, but were just SUPER INTO chimps and gorillas, respectively.

I appreciated how the darkness and problematic aspects of their circumstances and their work and their personalities was also quietly and unassumingly displayed. For example, I had no idea who Louis Leakey was - but he was integral to “selecting” all three women for their fieldwork. Mostly because he believed women “are better at being patient” and also cuz he was a philanderer!?

This comix, like all good biographical comix, made me very excited to read more and learn more about these women. As well as extremely excited to learn more about primates!