A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A BABY GIBBON

by Helen Kay ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1972

This is one of those gently descriptive day-in-the-natural-life accounts, beginning here with the subject's family sleeping in their tree while ""neither the screech of an owl, nor the scampering of a wide-eyed honey bear awakes the gibbons."" The first discordant note is struck when father rises and lets loose with his impressive howl -- ""This call wakes up the gibbon world,"" Ms. Kay comments, as if this assertion of territoriality were a sort of community alarm clock. Later incidents, though, may yet save the day: for science (and for drama), there's the noisy clash between two gibbon groups before a plum tree, one side finally yielding without a blow because the tree is in the other group's range; for sentiment, the mother's feat of grasping with her four extremities the limbs growing on both sides of a chasm, to form a bridge for the child who is too big to be carried across and too small to jump. Then there are Symeon Shimin's drawings which depict the black and grey apes against a shaded green background with fidelity and style.

Pub Date: May 1, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Abelard-Schuman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION