Quest for the Tree Kangaroo

Recently I have been reading a lot of nonfiction. Within the last few years, I’ve been drawn to first-hand accounts of actual events. This book, however, caught my attention because of the gorgeous photographs. A Sibert Honor Book, Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea follows the story of Lisa Dabek, a scientist of animal behavior who focuses her study on the tree kangaroo, of which there are 10 kinds on the planet. In particular, this book concentrates on the Matschie’s (“MATCH-eez”) tree kangaroo, found on Papua New Guinea. It is one of the rarest mammals on the planet, and very difficult to locate. When Lisa’s fascination with tree kangaroos began when she saw them in a zoo, she was told that they cannot be tracked. Over many years, Lisa made it her goal to find the Matchie’s tree kangaroo and track them with radio collars that can signal movement and activity for up to 5 months before falling off. This particular expedition is by no means Lisa’s first, but it is the first time she and her team was able to briefly capture and collar several tree kangaroos. Her team consisted of experts from across the world, including a some help from villagers in Yawan village, field veterinarian, a zoologist, field scientists and field coordinators, an artist, a photographer, and the writer and author of this book, Sy Montgomery.

I could go on and on with details of their expedition including a history of Yawan village, but this book is truly worth reading yourself. The layout of the book is very well planned, with a high quality photograph and caption on just about every page; some pages are consumed with the photographs. I use the word “consumed” because the photograph takes over and pulls in its audience. New Guinea’s Cloud Forest is extraordinarily beautiful and full of life. The photographs document the expedition well, telling their own stories. On the other hand, the text certainly does justice to these photographs. With short sentences for young readers, there is a lot of information that is broken down as simply as possible. Without a particular science background, Sy Montgomery is revealing this story in plain language that is easy to understand. When telling this account, he considers the entire team, and not just his experiences in the Cloud Forest of New Guinea. Also, Lisa and hence her team have a very positive relationship with the community and village of Yawan. All of the villagers are friendly and supportive of their mission, going so far as to escort them up rocky slopes and across dangerous bridges.

Toward the end, Lisa give advice to kids on how to help conserve the environment, including studying their favorite animals, beach cleanups, and joining organizations like Wildlife Conservation Society. I recently shared this book with a fifth grade student who doesn’t like to read, and he was so excited about the pictures that he had me write down the title of the book so he could find it for himself in the library. He was blown away by the fact that there are kangaroos that live in the trees, as was I! As I said before, this is definitely a book worth reading, and no doubt worthy of the Sibert Award for informational books.