Award-winning author and wildlife expert Eliot Schrefer makes his picture book debut with a sweet, poignant story about family and belonging, inspired by the true...

Award-winning author and wildlife expert Eliot Schrefer makes his picture book debut with a sweet, poignant story about family and belonging, inspired by the true story of a bonobo raised by a human family and later returned to the wild, with illustrations from New York Times bestselling artist AG Ford.

Lulu is like many kids you know. She lives in a house with her mom, dad, and sister. She likes soda, hopscotch, and comic books.

But there is one way Lulu is different: she's a bonobo.

Being the only bonobo in a human world can be lonesome. And so Lulu and her family take a long boat ride to a jungle Lulu has never seen before.

Now, she's surrounded by creatures with faces that look like hers and who make sounds like she does. But Lulu can't possibly be like these apes...can she?

Author: Eliot Schrefer
Publisher: Clarion Books
Published: 02/10/2026
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.96lbs
Size: 11.06h x 8.83w x 0.29d
ISBN: 9780063205376
Audience: Ages 4-8


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 02/01/2026
School Library Journal 01/16/2026 pg. 1
Publishers Weekly 11/17/2025
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2025

About the Author
Schrefer, Eliot: -

Eliot Schrefer is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for kids and teens, including The Darkness Outside Us and its sequel, The Brightness Between Us, as well as Charming Young Man, Endangered, and Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality. His books have twice been named finalists for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature and have garnered a Printz Honor, a Stonewall Honor, and the Green Earth Book Award. He is on the faculty of the creative writing MFA program at Hamline University and lives with his husband in New York City. Visit him online at eliotschrefer.com.

Ford, Ag: -

AG Ford is a New York Times bestselling artist and recipient of two NAACP Image Awards. He has illustrated more than thirty books for children, including picture books by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sharon Robinson, Ilyasah Shabazz, Martin Luther King III, Nick Cannon, Jonah Winter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and many others. He grew up in Dallas and attended the Columbus College of Art and Design and now lives in Frisco, Texas, with his wife, Brandy, and their two sons, Maddox and Carter. Visit him online at agfordillustration.com.