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Half Brother (2010)

by Kenneth Oppel(Favorite Author)

4.06 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1441871497 (ISBN13: 9781441871497)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Brilliance Audio

review 1: I loved how the book encompassed exactly what people have been doing for the past 30-40 yrs. That is teaching animals to communicate through ASL. I just hope that along with everything else, this book sent a message out to its readers: Animal cruelty doesn't just affect the animals themselves. I got a lot out of this book, and now I have a brand new perspective of animal behaviorists and their contribution to science. The fact that common teen struggles involving popularity and relationships were sprinkled into the storyline made this book much more appealing to the YA age.
review 2: Oppel packs a lot of story and a lot of information in relatively few pages. In this book, Ben discovers that his parents have adopted a baby chimp to use for an experiment on lang... moreuage learning. Ben's father, a prominent professor, wants to see if the baby chimp, whom they name Zan, can learn and use sign language. Of course, anyone today who has read about gorilla and chimp studies probably knows the answer is a definitive yes, but this story takes place in an earlier time. Ben is at first not happy about not only moving across the country for his father's new job, but having to view Zan as his new baby brother. But Ben soon becomes attached to Zan, and the feeling is mutual. Zan is very affectionate and picks up sign language, but there are constant reminders that Zan is not a human, despite his human clothes and surroundings. Problems soon ensue; it is painfully obvious the father has not thought things through. Ben and his family are soon faced with many hard decisions concerning Zan's ultimate fate. I really enjoyed this story, save for the very ending. I thought the author cheated a bit. The ending was sweet but I think the point could have been brought home in a way that didn't feel so deus ex machina. But other than the ending, this is a good, thought-provoking read about human responsibility. less

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