Apes & Monkeys, Orphans & Foster Homes, Action & Adventure, Africa, Being a Teen 

*A 2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST*   When he was a boy, Luc's mother would warn him about the "mock men" living in the trees by their home -- chimpanzees whose cries would fill the night.   Luc is older now, his mother gone.  He lives in a house of mistreated orphans, barely getting by.  Then a man calling himself Prof comes to town with a mysterious mission.  When Luc tries to rob him, the man isn't mad.  Instead, he offers Luc a job.   Together, Luc and Prof head into the rough, dangerous jungle in order to study the elusive chimpanzees.  There, Luc finally finds a new family -- and must act when that family comes under attack.   As he did in his acclaimed novel ENDANGERED, a finalist for the National Book Award, Eliot Schrefer takes us somewhere fiction rarely goes, introducing us to characters we rarely get to meet. The unforgettable result is the story of a boy fleeing his present, a man fleeing his past, and a trio of chimpanzees who are struggling not to flee at all. - from Amzon