Half Brother
Readers rate it 3.8 (9 on Hardcover)
390 pages · Released Oct 1, 2010 · Scholastic Inc.
Content report card
Half Brother parent’s guide: what’s inside
Sexual content
LGBTQ+ themes
Substance use
What it offers
A note for parents
Half Brother explores the ethical complexities of a chimpanzee-rearing experiment through a teen protagonist's eyes, raising important questions about family, identity, and animal welfare. The novel deals with some emotionally heavy themes around scientific ambition, abandonment, and the consequences of treating animals as research subjects, but handles them thoughtfully rather than exploitatively. While there is minimal crude language and some conflict, the book is more introspective than action-driven, making it suitable for mature middle-grade readers and up. The strong positive messages about compassion and the bond between Ben and Zan anchor what could otherwise be a darker premise.
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From the publisher
From the Printz-Honor-winning author of Airborn comes an absorbing YA novel about a teen boy whose scientist parents take in a chimpanzee to be part of the family.For thirteen years, Ben Tomlin was an only child. But all that changes when his mother brings home Zan -- an eight-day-old chimpanzee. Ben's father, a renown... From the Printz-Honor-winning author of Airborn comes an absorbing YA novel about a teen boy whose scientist parents take in a chimpanzee to be part of the family.For thirteen years, Ben Tomlin was an only child. But all that changes when his mother brings home Zan -- an eight-day-old chimpanzee. Ben's father, a renowned behavioral scientist, has uprooted the family to pursue his latest research project: a high-profile experiment to determine whether chimpanzees can acquire advanced language skills. Ben's parents tell him to treat Zan like a little brother. Ben reluctantly agrees. At least now he's not the only one his father's going to scrutinize.It isn't long before Ben is Zan's favorite, and Ben starts to see Zan as more
Shelved under
- Young Adult Fiction
- Canada
- Young Adult
- Children's Literature
- Fiction
- Science Fiction
- History
- Chimpanzees
- Adventure
- Human-animal communication
- Experiments
- Habits and behavior
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ISBN 9780545328784 · Scholastic Inc.