Frida Nilsson

The Ape Star Frida Nilsson

In this an award-winning chapter book about outsiders and unconventional love, an orphan girl is adopted by a gorilla who lives in a junkyard and a surprising friendship grows between them.

A dirty old Volvo pulls up in front of the orphanage and out steps a gorilla. She's as thick as a barrel with a head like an overgrown pear. Of all the orphanage's 51 children, it is Jonna who, to her horror, is chosen by the gorilla. She had been dreaming of a well-dressed mother who smells of perfume, and now she's going to live in a scrapyard.

Jonna sleeps in a hammock, and in the evenings the gorilla reads Dickens in her worn armchair. It turns out Jonna and the gorilla have a lot in common. But just when they've started to get along, a man from the council threatens to send Jonna back to the orphanage.

The Ape Star is a heartwarming and unconventional chapter book about love, adoption, friendship, and seeing from different perspectives.