Child of the Jungle: The True Story of a Girl Caught Between Two Worlds

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Publisher’s Weekly (12/18/2006)
In 1980, when Kuegler was seven, she accompanied her German linguist parents into the Papuan (New Guinea) jungle to live with the Fayu, a Stone Age tribe of naked people with bones through their noses. She felt immediately at home and by her own account had an idyllic childhood till she was 17, even though the Fayu were split into four mutually hostile subtribes in a culture of "hate, fear and tribal war," where children "knew no security or innocence" and had "little love, no forgiveness and no peace." After years of close friendship with Fayu children, eventually Kuegler was sent to boarding school in Switzerland, had a baby shortly after she graduated, married, divorced, sank into depression and attempted suicide. Young readers, and anthropologists, too, will find this account of a most unusual childhood engrossing and will root for the survival of the Fayu.(Mar. 2)

Library Journal (01/15/2007)
An earnest tale of an idyllic childhood in a missionary family in Papua New Guinea, this German best seller (Dschungelkind ) has touched the hearts of readers around the world. The glow of family love and the agony of coming of age are just as poignant in an exotic locale. Exotic it certainly was; Kuegler's family were among the first Westerners ever encountered by the tribe called Fayu, who, according to Kuegler, were influenced by her family's example to refrain from blood feuds and to accept some aspects of Western technology, hygiene, and, yes, Christianity. While the missionary aspect of her book has drawn criticism, Kuegler describes Fayu life from the practical perspective of a child innocent of racism. She is equally honest about her shock and dismay when she eventually encounters European life as a teenager. Kuegler ends her book in despair of ever adjusting fully to the Western world. Since she plans a return visit to Papua, however, a sequel may be expected. Recommended for all public libraries.-Lisa Klopfer, Eastern Michigan Univ., Ypsilanti

ISBN: 9780446579063 | EAN: 9780446579063
Publisher: Warner Books  | Publication Date: March, 2007

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