Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2007
272 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
Sabine Kuegler's childhood was far from typical. The child of German linguists and missionaries, she spent her youth living among the Fayu tribe in the most remote jungles of West Papua, Indonesia. There, as her family struggled for acceptance among the tightly knit and fiercely loyal community, Sabine spent her time swimming with crocodiles, shooting poisonous spiders with arrows, and chewing on pieces of bat-wing in place of gum. And she was happy. It wasn't until the age of 17 when her world was upended that Sabine experienced true fear for the first time. She was sent off to a boarding school in Switzerland and forced to confront the culture clash of modern Western society--giving her plenty of reason to be afraid. This is her remarkable true story.
"Young readers, and anthropologists, too, will find this account of a most unusual childhood engrossing and will root for the survival of the Fayu." - PW.
"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." - Library Journal.
"The prose is elementary, even plodding-there's nothing lyrical here, and at times, it feels like an account of childhood written for children. Exotic, but not engaging." - Kirkus.
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