Book review: 'Little Larry Goes to School' is a great way to teach kids about chimapnzees and overcoming hardship

In an African sanctuary in the country of Cameroon, a little chimpanzee was left an orphan. Little Larry, as he was named, didn't have parents to teach him how to do normal chimpanzee things. So, with the help of his human caregiver and his chimpanzee friends, Little Larry grew and progressed until he was finally able to live in the sanctuary safely in, "Little Larry Goes to School."

Image from National Geographic

From the very first page, after I had explained to my preschooler what an orphan was ("oh no, that's so sad!"), my elementary-aged kids became invested in this book. They stared at the many photographs of Little Larry as he explored his surroundings, licked his animal friends (lots of giggles over that!), and drank out of a bottle.

Now, I've taken my kids to the zoo plenty of times (we've already gone earlier this year, in the winter!) and they have seen chimps in real life. But, for some reason, seeing photo after photo of Little Larry and all his friends really made an impression on them. They were fascinated over how he used his feet to climb, how his hands looked so much like ours, and even that he ate watermelon--like we do!

But back to Little Larry. Finally, after more than a year, Little Larry was able to climb trees and live like a normal chimpanzee in the Cameroon sanctuary.

My kids were very interested over the map of Africa that shows exactly where the sanctuary is located and where chimpanzees live throughout the continent.

However, their favorite part was the page that taught them how to position their mouths so they sounded like chimpanzees! After viewing his life in-depth, they thought sounding like Little Larry was the best thing ever (just to clarify, the book doesn't have any sound, but they've heard chimps before). And, wonder of wonders, those directions on how to sound like a chimp actually worked. We all stared in amazement at each other and our chimp sounds.

"Little Larry Goes to School" is a wonderful way to teach thoroughly about chimpanzees and perseverance. This is a marvelously educational and totally clean book with nothing offensive in it.

Find me on Instagram (@readwithlizreid) if you'd like to see a short video clip of this book being read. As soon as we opened the package this book came in, my kids wanted this book read to them before bedtime.

Gerry Ellis has worked for more than two decades photographing wildlife in Africa. Mary Rand Hess lives in California with her family and has co-authored another book I reviewed a few years ago.