The Wild Boy of Burundi: A study of an outcast child

I had to think about how to review this book - it is so simple to spoil to completely with a sentence or two.
In 1976, Harlan Lane, had recently written a book on Victor - The Wild Boy of Aveyron, capturing the details of investigation into a boy in France reported to have lived in the wild until aged 12, when he was captured in 1800. Professionally, Lane is a psychologist and a linguist, based in Boston.

This made him the ideal candidate to investigate when a story appeared in a South African newspaper reporting that the child in Burundi had been captured from the jungle, having been raised by monkeys. The boy (now named John, after John the Baptist, by the Catholic priest running the orphanage that John now lives) reportedly cannot speak, making only monkey noises, and walks on all fours. The article goes on to explain that the violent civil war in 1972, which set Tutsi and Hutu tribes against one another was the backdrop for John's isolation - his parents both being killed.

Lane decides immediately to contact Richard Pillard, a friend and colleague, and a psychologist.

The books outlines their preliminary investigation, gathering of support and funding to visit Burundi and to carry out a full investigation into John, the boy from the jungle.

Obvious to the interest any newspaper story about feral children such as John, and the obvious a parallels in fiction with Tarzan and Mowgli, this book discusses previous feral children investigations, but especially Victor's.
It also describes in relatively simple terms the medical investigations into possible causes for John's situation. Obviously, written in 1977, forty years of medical advancements are missing from their knowledge - which becomes fairly obvious, even to a reader with only a passing knowledge. Also central to the book is the difficulty of working in Burundi - a basic third world country in Central Africa.

So little more to add, without giving away any of their findings, other than to say this book comes across as legitimate in its presentation of research and findings, it is well constructed, following a linear timeline as events unfold, and is well told by utilising both Lane and Pillard to add information in a conversational way.

A quick and un-taxing read on an interesting subject.
4 stars.