Christian, the Hugging Lion - Softcover

Peter Parnell Amy June Bates

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847389155 ISBN 13: 9781847389152

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2010

Synopsis

From the moment that Ace and John brought Christian the lion cub home from a London department store, they knew they had created a special family. But Christian soon grew too big to live with them in their small apartment, so Ace and John flew Christian to Africa to live with other lions. A year later, they went to visit. Would Christian remember them? With wit and warmth, Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell and Amy June Bates tell the true story of an unusual family whose emotional reunion became a worldwide Internet sensation.

About this title

About the Author

Justin Richardson, MD, is the coauthor, with Peter Parnell, of the award-winning picture book And Tango Makes Three. Dr. Richardson is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia and Cornell and the coauthor of Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They'd Ask). Dr. Richardson and his advice have been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post, on the Today show and NPR's Morning Edition, and in numerous magazines. Dr. Richardson lectures to parents and teachers on parenting and the sexual development of children. Peter Parnell is the coauthor, with Justin Richardson, of And Tango Makes Three. He is a playwright whose plays have been produced at the Public Theater and Playwrights Horizons in New York City, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and the Seattle Repertory Company, among others. His play QED was produced on Broadway. He has written extensively for television as a producer for both The West Wing and The Guardian; he has also written episodes of Maurice Sendak's series Little Bear. He lives in New York City.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3—When Ace and John find a lion cub for sale at a famous English department store, they buy him, take him back to their apartment, and name him Christian. The young men take him for walks, play with him in a churchyard, and go on beach picnics with him. When Christian grows too large for their apartment, his owners fly him to Kenya where Mr. Adamson will teach him—as he has taught other lions—to live in the wild. They learn that Christian has cubs of his own and fly to Kenya to see him one more time. In a series of near-wordless illustrations that capture the joy of the real-life reunion video that appeared on the Internet in 2008, the friends meet again. They spend the night together "cozy and snug and, of course, hugging." An authors' note explains that all events are true, fills in more details, and mentions the now-famous video. Illustrations are done in watercolor, gouache, and pencil. Young readers may want to see actual photographs of the three friends in Anthony "Ace" Bourke and John Rendall'sChristian the Lion (Delacorte, 2009). This book will be a popular choice among the many youngsters who have bonded with their own pets.—Mary Jean Smith, Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN
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About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1847389155
• ISBN 13: 9781847389152
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 30