MADreads

Thanks YouTube

August 11th, 2009 Molly - Central

Chances are that this edifying little book originally published 38 years ago would not have gained steam again without the amazing video footage shown on YouTube to millions worldwide.  I’m talking about A Lion Called Christian, the story of a lion cub purchased at Harrods luxury department store in London and raised by two Aussie blokes until he’s too big to live in the city and with humans. 

Christian gets reintroduced to the wild in the Coast Province of Kenya at the Kora National Reserve and is later joyously reunited with the Aussie blokes who raised him.  The reunion is filmed as part of a documentary about George Adamson, best known through the award-winning Born Free, who lived at the Kora Reserve and rehabilitated captured or orphaned lions into the wild.

If you have seen the video or looked at the stills on the cover of the book, you can’t help but notice the bond between Christian and his original owners Anthony Bourke and John Rendall.  They obviously had a loving and playful relationship.  It will only take you a couple of hours to read about what it was like to live in a London flat with a growing lion cub, what types of feeding and exercise was necessary and the difficulty of getting a lion from England to Kenya.  What a story!

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Nonfiction