Orangutan

A baby orangutan accompanies her mother throughout the Sumatran rainforest in this addition to the Eye on the Wild series. Eszterhas’s vivid photographs chronicle the orangutan’s early life as her mother teaches her to find fresh leaves, fruit, and bugs, as well as climb and swing from the trees. The text strikes a gentle balance between light anthropomorphism (“It’s a bit scary at first without Mom but she remembers all the things Mom has taught her about living in the forest”), and factual details about the species. Readers should be fascinated by the orangutans’ supple movements as they travel the jungle canopy and may observe how their interactions are not so different from the tenderness shared between a human mother and child. Available simultaneously: Sea Otter. Ages 4–up. (Apr.)