Member Review

Keena is just your everyday student in a Philadelphia private school. Except that she spends half the year living in a tent in a nature park in Botswana with her parents who study primates. Which one is a more Wild Life?

Growing up home schooled in Kenya, Keena has bush skills. Using elephant poo as soccer balls and shooting snakes are no problem for her. At eight, her family moves back to Philadelphia from January to June so her parents can teach college and renew their research grant. From June to December, they live in Botswana among the animals. It is a rude awakening for Keena when she first arrives in the States. Her tribal dance to a popular African song, Gorilla Man, only leads to laughs from her “ballerina” classmates and being called Gorilla Girl for years. She really doesn’t understand what type of girl she should be to fit in with these strange humans so she vows to quietly observe them like her parents do their baboons.

Keena’s story is a real-life Mean Girls. She has all the charm, and the confusion, of a young Lindsay Lohan. It is great fun to go on the adventure with her from the wilds of Africa into an even stranger teenage life in Philadelphia. Wild Life would be a great gift for a child or teenager who doesn’t feel like they fit in school—and isn’t that most of us? However, it is also a great read for adults. 5 stars!

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.