The Murderer's Ape

Originally published in Sweden in 2014 as “Mördarens Apa,” the book was written and illustrated by Jakob Wegelius and translated from Swedish by Peter Graves.

The book cover of "The Murderer's Ape" by Jakob Wegelius features the head of an ape wearing a turban with a large red jewel, surrounded by drawings of palm trees, a caparisoned elephant with passengers in a howdah, and an old-style steam tugboat. The border around them includes drawings of musical instruments, weapons, a large steamship, a typewriter and a bird. The Batchelder award seal has been affixed to the upper right corner.

About

When the sea captain she works with is wrongly convicted of murder, Sally Jones, a gorilla who can read, write, and understand humans, embarks on a lengthy adventure to clear the captain’s name. Writing on a typewriter, she narrates the story of her journey from Portugal to India and back again.

“Sally Jones is a sentient, intelligent, empathic, talented engineer who is also a gorilla. Publishing her compelling story was a bold undertaking quite masterfully executed,”said Batchelder Award Committee Chair Elizabeth A. Poe.

Awards Won

Title Year
batchelder-gold-watermark2-154x154.png Mildred L. Batchelder Award
This award, established in Mildred L. Batchelder's honor in 1966, is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
2018 - Winner(s)