Endangered

Introduction

Eliot Schrefer’s coming-of-age novel Endangered was published by Scholastic in 2012 and is the first book in The Ape Quartet. Set the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the story is written for a young adult audience and is a 2012 National Book Award finalist in Young People’s Literature. The novel follows Sophie Biyoya-Ciardulli’s journey as she navigates the perils of war-torn Congo in search of her mother, protecting a young, orphaned bonobo throughout her journey. As the novel progresses, Schrefer explores themes such as dedication, self-sacrifice, and protection for endangered species.

This guide uses the 2014 Scholastic paperback edition.

Plot Summary

At the opening of the story, 14-year-old Sophie Biyoya-Ciardulli, who normally lives with her father in Miami, Florida, has come to visit her mother, Florence, in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the first chapter, a local driver named Clément is driving Sophie through Kinshasa to Florence’s bonobo sanctuary. (Bonobos are small apes, also commonly known as “pygmy chimpanzees.”) On the way to the sanctuary, Sophie buys a young but frail bonobo from an animal trafficker, believing that she is doing what her mother would want by taking the opportunity to save an animal.