Undaunted: The Wild Life of Biruté Mary Galdikas and Her Fearless Quest to Save Orangutans

Silvey (Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall) spotlights another groundbreaking primatologist in this handsome photobiography of Galdikas, who was mesmerized by a photo of an orangutan while studying zoology at UCLA and knew she wanted to study wild primates. Anthropologist Louis Leakey became her mentor and secured funding for her pioneering research, which Silvey chronicles in a fact-packed narrative. Accompanied by her husband, Rod Brindamour, whose breathtaking photos illustrate this volume, Galdikas moved to Borneo in 1971, becoming the first scientist to study wild orangutans there. A fierce advocate for the protection of this endangered species and its habitat, Galdikas began a quest to observe and rehabilitate formerly captive or orphaned orangutans to prepare them for life in the wild, fostering many herself. The book includes some unfortunate omissions: there’s no mention of the controversies surrounding Galdikas’s discontinued orangutan rehabilitation program, and a sidebar about Borneo focuses on colonial occupation rather than its indigenous peoples, who are mentioned elsewhere in the book but curiously not there. These oversights aside, Silvey presents a crisp portrait of a tenacious, groundbreaking scientist who has been underrepresented in books for youth. Extensive back matter concludes. Ages 8–12. [em](May) [/em]