Orbis Pictus/Sibert Award winning book

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Montgomery, Sy. 2006. QUEST FOR THE TREE KANGAROO: AN EXPEDITION TO THE CLOUD FOREST OF NEW GUINEA. Photographs by Nic Bishop. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN-13 9780618496419.  

PLOT SUMMARY
Montgomery leads readers through the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea in the search for an exciting animal that most people have never seen or heard of before. Tree kangaroos are an endangered species once hunted for their pelts and meat. Learn more about conservation, the cloud forest, and most of all tree kangaroos in QUEST FOR THE TREE KANGAROO.  

  
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
QUEST FOR THE TREE KANGAROO is an informational book that is a part of a series entitled Scientists in the Field and is written based on a specific expedition. Montgomery himself was part of the expedition that traveled to Papua New Guinea to study the tree kangaroo. The book includes quotes from members of the conservation team and members of Yawan village. I think that children as well as adults would enjoy reading this book. The writer interjects some casual language which seems to be an attempt to connect with an intended younger audience, “On a previous expedition, a leech dropped into Lisa’s eye. Yuck!”. The author did not include a table of contents to identify the organization of the book. The book seems to be organized based on the sequence of events that occurred before the expedition, during, and a follow up after the trip ended. The author included no sources although a majority of the text involves information that the team discovered based on the study. The book includes some incredible photographs of landscapes, people, and animals with captions. The pictures are all bright and vibrant which enhances the subjects of the book. In some of the pictures of the tree kangaroos it seems as though you could reach out and stroke the kangaroo’s soft looking fur.  

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
“Montgomery and Bishop follow award-wining titles such as The Tarantula Scientist (2004) with another beautifully illustrated entry in the Scientists in the Field series….” - Booklist

Honors

Henry Bergh Children's Book Award Winner

Orbis Pictus Award

Robert F. Sibert Honor Book.

CONNECTIONS

Inform students about local conservation efforts. Allow students to choose a local animal on the endangered species list to research and then have the students present the animal in class.  

Quest For The Tree Kangaroo 

The Tarantula Scientist