Zoobreak

“Savannah was indignant. ‘She’s a monkey, not a wild animal! Cleo knows where she lives. Something’s happened to her! She would never just leave like this.’”

Savannah says this to Griffin and Ben after the boys question whether Cleopatra was taken or just ran away, and this line encapsulates Savannah’s personality, as well as the main conflict of the story. Savannah’s understanding of animals comes through here. More than the other characters, she understands The Relationship Between Humans and Animals. To her, Cleopatra is as much a person as herself, Ben, or Griffin, and thus, Savannah knows something happened because Cleopatra would never run off on her own. The line about the monkey not being a wild animal is ironic because monkeys are typically wild animals.

“It was worse than Cleopatra’s disappearance…and not just because Ben wasn’t a monkey. Cleo was already gone. It was too bad, but at least the damage was done. Ben, on the other hand, was going. And Griffin still couldn’t find a way to stop it.”

Though he’s wracked his brain for a solution, Griffin cannot come up with a plan to keep Ben from going to a different school, and these lines show Griffin’s discontent and frustration. They also compare his situation to Savannah’s and show how both he and Savannah have very different priorities. Where Savannah is hung up on Cleopatra’s disappearance, Griffin is more concerned about his best friend, which further supports how Savannah views animals as people.

“Griffin watched her, a gnawing feeling deep in his stomach. Mr. Nastase said no, so it was no. Mr. Martinez said no, so it was no. Didn’t Savannah have rights?

Beside him, Ben let out a tremulous yawn.

Did any kid?”

Griffin thinks this after Savannah discovers Mr. Nastase is holding Cleopatra captive on