Literally Graphic reviewed Primates by Jim Ottaviani
Review of 'Primates' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
A great read for kids I was a little surprised to get to the end and see that YALSA was recommending it for teens. I mean, I'm sure plenty of teens would enjoy it about as much as I did but the story was just to fast and surfacy to fully satisfy a mature reader.
The art also felt very lighthearted and childlike. Lots of flat bright colors and simple cartoon shapes. It definitely fits the general vibe I get from this book, which is upbeat and inspirational. This book seems to be have written with the express purpose of inspiring young girls into science. Certainly a good thing, but again, I would expect a bit more subtle from something for older readers.
But that's really just a side tangent, because as an all ages comic (besides one point that you can probably guess) I think this book works really …
A great read for kids I was a little surprised to get to the end and see that YALSA was recommending it for teens. I mean, I'm sure plenty of teens would enjoy it about as much as I did but the story was just to fast and surfacy to fully satisfy a mature reader.
The art also felt very lighthearted and childlike. Lots of flat bright colors and simple cartoon shapes. It definitely fits the general vibe I get from this book, which is upbeat and inspirational. This book seems to be have written with the express purpose of inspiring young girls into science. Certainly a good thing, but again, I would expect a bit more subtle from something for older readers.
But that's really just a side tangent, because as an all ages comic (besides one point that you can probably guess) I think this book works really well. While I said earlier that this book was too overly simplistic for more discerning readers, for kids is actually pretty realistic. The story gets right to the point and the illustrations are bright to pull you in, and the author does touch in some more serious issues like loneliness, divorce, poachers and politics that might be important to younger readers.
The one issue I did have with the comic is the same as everyone else. So Louis was apparently sexist and thought that women were all more patient kind etc. Considering the time period (who am I kidding, do these things really change?) and the fact that he was apparently had at least one affair with an assistant (although I don't think kids would necessarily catch on to this) I have little doubt that the man probably did think this so it's nonfiction right?
That said, I would have appreciated some kind of rebuttal in some form. I mean we have 3 pretty strong minded females involved in this story and none of them thought to correct him? After reading this I was not at all surprised to find out that the author was a man. I think a female author (or at least the kind who write books to encourage girls into STEM) wouldn't have missed this. That said, it's a teaching moment and I do think the showing of such strong and adventurous women does outweigh the telling of Louis.