THE APE STAR

A misfit orphan is adopted by a gorilla.

Life at the Renfanan orphanage is a drag. Gerd, the manager, is sour-faced and demanding. The children clean vigorously and hope to get adopted. But when a gorilla arrives to take her pick of the children, they run from sight to escape being adopted. Nine-year-old, brown-skinned Jonna, who bears the brunt of Gerd’s insults, doesn’t disappear quickly enough and is horrified to be chosen as the gorilla’s adoptee. Gorilla’s home is one room in an abandoned factory building, and she earns money selling scrap. But Jonna quickly becomes accustomed to living with Gorilla and is comforted by her new caregiver’s kindness and humor. Jonna also gets used to a freer existence, with unkempt hair and no shoes, and learns to ride a bike and then to drive a car. When a predatory prospector decides that the threat of losing Jonna will make Gorilla finally give up her land, Gorilla and Jonna must decide how to reclaim their freedom. Aside from Jonna and a few other orphans, most characters present as White in the illustrations (stills from an animated feature film based on this story). The premise of this Swedish import relies on overdone tropes, such as the Dickensian orphanage and the racialized misunderstood savage—there are frequent references to the ape’s “black” body parts, and over time, her kindness outweighs her beastly behaviors. Despite some interesting plot developments, it is unsettling at best.

An engaging narrative can’t rescue this story from problematic tropes.