Quest for the Tree Kangaroo by Sy Montgomery

Quest For the Tree Kangaroo by Sy Montgomery (80 pages; 1 book) #34

Montgomery, Sy (2006). Quest For the Tree Kangaroo. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Awards: 2007 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book,2007 Orbis Pictus Award, 2007 ALA Notable Book for Children, 2007 NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children

Grade Level: 4-8 grades

Author Credibility: Montgomery is a noted award winning author. She has several books that are written for a group of books known as scientists in the field. On this particular adventure Sy met several obstacles. She had an orangutan are her interview tapes and her notebook fell out of her backpack while riding an elephant, the elephant was nice enough to pick it up for her. She had also suffered from altitude sickness and was very ill. Through it all, she never once thought about giving up or going back to a desk. The photographer Nic Bishop had to carry 25 pounds of camera weight in the jungle. He knew he had to prepare for such a strenuous journey, so he went for cross-country runs at home. He was familiar with the Tok Pison language the natives spoke because he lived in New Guinea as a teenager.

Summary/Response: Montgomery follows Lisa Dabek around a Cloud Forest in New Guinea. She uses the description “big stuffed animal” to describe the tree kangaroo and that is exactly what it looks like. Its features are a cross of a bear, monkey, and kangaroo. These animals are becoming rare because of the destruction of the cloud forest. Lisa is here to find out how many are left and what can be done for their survival. Montgomery goes into detail about some of the fascinating creatures that live in the cloud forest and through her descriptions; you can’t help but have respect for this “Stone Age Island.” Lisa was a fragile child with asthma growing up. She couldn’t even have a pet. However, she never let this stop her love for animals and when she went to New Guinea she found her breathing to be better despite the 10,000 foot altitude. It was America’s pollution that made her asthma worse. Montgomery does an outstanding job describing the thought process of a scientist. The crew land in the village of Yawan, where there adventure begins. They are excited to find a tree kangaroo which is darted, vital signs are taken, radio collar applied, and are released back into the wild. With Lisa’s efforts, she has started a conservation effort to save these animals.

National Standards: Language: Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
Science: Structure and function in living systems, Reproduction and heredity, Regulation and behavior, Populations and ecosystems, Diversity and adaptations of organisms

Illustrations: Beautiful colored had drawn maps by R. Wingrave, Breathtaking color photographs.

Access Features: Lisa’s Advice For Kids, Tree Kangaroos Near You, Let’s Tok Pison, Acknowledgements, Index, A Note from the Author, A Note from the photographer.

Related Texts: The Snake Scientist by Sy Montgomery, The Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery- all show scientific thinking

Classroom Use: This would be good for science in showing how scientists think and work.