
Member Reviews

Zhuri’s Heart: Forever Friend is a tender story that highlights the deep, unspoken connection between humans and animals. The journey of Ahbey and Zhuri, from their first meeting to their emotional goodbye, is simple yet incredibly moving. I especially loved how the book gently introduces young readers to the importance of wildlife conservation, compassion, and letting go. This was such a sweet, soul-soothing read—I’ll definitely be revisiting it with my kids again.

Warning: this book might make your heart go all gooey—in the best way!
Zhuri the gorilla and Ahbey the wildlife caretaker totally stole my heart in like, two pages flat. Zhuri’s Heart is one of those books that makes you laugh, sniffle, and then hug it like it’s your new best friend. It’s got jungle vibes, big feels, and a message that sticks (kind of like that thorn in her thumb 😭). If you love animals, friendships that last forever, and gorgeous stories that hit you right in the chest, this one’s a keeper. 🐾🌿💔

This is a touching story about compassion and kindess, and how having a little bit of both will make you a friend for life. It is a lovely little tale.
That being said, the book itself looks like it is still in its beta stages. It still needs some editing and polishing. But when those are done, this will be a wonderful children's book that little ones will love.

I think this book is unfinished, or at least an unfinished draft was published to the NetGalley site.
There are several formatting errors and a few text blocks where the copy starts in the middle of a sentence or appears on a completely blank page. There is also inconsistent text allignment (justify and aligned left). Placement of the text is difficult to read on some pages, color of font vs background colors. Lastly, the sentence structure/tenses used are inconsistent (passive/past/present all within the same book).
I really like the story overall, but the work as a whole is unfinished. I'm looking forward to reading the final book with my kid.
I'm going to hold up on posting my review to the public.

Thanks to NetGalley and BookBaby for the ARC of this one. This was a cute story but I did not like the illustrations. I felt they were cartoonish and the story didn’t really flow for me. I felt it jumped already at times.

Big Jungle, Bigger Heart: Zhuri Swings Straight Into Yours
Zhuri’s Heart: Forever Friend is a tender, tear-sparkling tale that proves friendships—especially the wild ones—can last a lifetime and leave pawprints on your soul.

This is a beautiful story and really touching. My little one enjoyed the words and even acted out removing the thorn from his hand and the gorilla stroking the human's face. My little one got properly into the story, and the joy and how touching it was.
The images were on the dark side and perhaps less inspiring than the words.