Endangered / Eliot Schrefer / 264 pages

wow.  Great book.  this is about bonobo apes and the relationship between one bonobo, Otto, and a teenage girl Sophie.  It is set in the Congo where the bonobos unfortunately live.  The Congo has been beset by war and undeclared was since 1960.  The statistic in the book states that 1200 people have died every day since 1998. 
     Bonobos are the closest genetic species to humans and should be protected.  However, they are eaten or killed and the babies sold.
The story immediately brought up the fears I have had since the early 1960's when the revolution started and men with machetes were chopping up missionaries.  (see Poisonwood Bible)  Fast forward, machetes are still a weapon of choice; In fact there is a word for it -- kata kata (cut cut)!!
This is a survival book.  It's an environmental book.  It's a political book.  It's a great story and should be read by all teens and discussed.  Distopian nothing.  This is real.
There are websites and questions answered by the author at the end.  It is a National book award finalist, but should have won.