The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps

The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps

Author: Jeanette Winter

From an early age, Jane Goodall loved the outdoors, carefully observed the animals around her, and dreamed of a life in Africa, “a life living with, and helping, all animals.” Goodall’s childhood passions and dreams are the subject of this perfectly paced picture book biography by cartoonist and author McDonnell. Mixed media illustrations include images of pages from Goodall’s childhood journal, ornamental engravings from the late nineteenth century, and photographs. In a series of three clever page turns, the book concludes with the young Jane falling asleep in bed with her stuffed animal chimpanzee, then waking as a young adult in a tent in Africa, and finally portrayed in the famous photograph, reaching her hand out to a young chimp. The back matter includes a more complete biography and a letter from Jane Goodall, herself. With its accessible, yet evocative text this beautiful book will inspire readers of all ages to pursue their dreams.

The book is written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter and has several sentences on each page. I'd guess the book is geared toward children 4-8 years old. There are a few quotes from Jane herself and they are taken from her autobiographies. We are able to learn about Jane's life, about the layout of Gombe National Park in Tanzania, along with some of the observations Jane makes of the many chimpanzees. 

The illustrations are done in acrylic paint and pen. They show Jane starting as a cute little blond hair girl through her watching the chimps initially, all the way through when she is gray haired, returning to Africa often to spend time with her chimps. I liked the artwork. There are individual leaves on the trees, lines of fur on the chimps, and many stars in the sky. We see the area she stayed in and even some of the particular apes she works with, like David Greybeard.
 

Sample Questions

• Who did Jane like to read about as a child?
• What did Jane watch in her window while living in London?
• Why did Jane want to save the Chimps?

Activities and Discussions

• Make a pair of tube binoculars to watch animals you are interested in.
• Draw a map of Jane's journey from London to the African jungles.
• Draw a picture of you in the middle of a piece of construction paper and list those things you are interested in around your self portrait

About the Author

Jeanette Winter

Other Books Written by Jeanette Winter

Mr. Cornell's Dream Boxes

Henri's Scissors

Biblioburro

Reference

Winter, J. (2011). The watcher: Jane Goodall's life with the chimps. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.