Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas (2013)

Field science as it actually happens: years of patience in a forest before anyone will let you close. Jim Ottaviani tells how Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas were each recruited by the anthropologist Louis Leakey to study chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, and the three stories overlap so you can compare their very different methods. Maris Wicks draws in a bright, friendly style that suits younger teens as well as adults, and the book is short enough for one sitting. That brevity has a cost: much of each woman's life and work is left out, so treat it as an inviting doorway rather than the full account.