How Monkeys Make Chocolate

Christy Conte is a member of the Parents Advisory Committee at the
YMCA’s Parent and Child Enrichment Centre and a journalist.

This is a fascinating book: an adventure story, a mystery, a scientific
journal, and a local economies primer all rolled into one highly
readable volume. Noted biologist Adrian Forsyth carries young readers
away to the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, West Africa, and South
and Central America as he examines relationships between plants, seeds,
animals, and humans. These connections make possible a whole range of
useful products: chocolate from cacao beans, gum from the chicle tree,
sap as a disinfectant ... The list will continue to grow, Forsyth says,
as we continue to probe the mysteries of the rainforest.

Much of the trendy environmental literature aimed at children these
days is of the hysterical variety: “Save the Trees!” “Recycle!”
“Don’t Pollute!” Forsyth’s account is thoughtful, eloquent, and
imbued with a sense of wonder, an approach far more likely to inspire
future scientists. Forsyth relates what he has seen, felt, and tasted in
the rainforest, demonstrating and revealing rather than telling and
admonishing. The photographs accompanying the text are equally
enlightening: How many people have ever seen a cacao tree, an eyelash
viper or the infamously stinky durian fruit?

How Monkeys Make Chocolate is suitable for children 8 and up, though
younger readers will certainly appreciate the pictures. Highly
recommended.