FOOTPRINTS IN TIME

Riffing on the premise of his adult novel Almost Adam (1996), Popescu strands an American teenager in an area of Tanzania so remote that prehistoric hominids still roam there. The only survivor of a plane crash, Jack is amazed when he’s rescued by a tool-making, apelike companion he dubs Stone Boy. Thanks to a few salvaged supplies and Stone Boy’s skill at living off the land, the two squeak through a series of life-threatening challenges, including encounters with animal predators and other prehumans. Suggesting that early humans successfully moved out of the forests by modeling their social behavior on that of lions, the author gives his two main characters plenty of time carefully observing local prides and then leading a band of Stone Boy’s relatives onto the verdant plain. In the end, Jack grows tough and self-reliant enough to rescue himself by trekking out—but it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to keep his discovery secret for very long. A passable survival tale. (Fiction. 11-13)