Christian was introduced to the world in an emotional YouTube video and instantly touched the hearts of many people like me, who love animals and know they also feel love and attachment as equally strong for us.
The back story of the video is described in this book, as two friends, Ace and John, searching for holiday gifts in London, discover a lion cub for sale in a department store. They take him home and exercise him in the garden of a nearby church, but quickly realize their pet needs more care than they can give him. They begin looking for alternate living options for the young lion, knowing that zoos and circuses will not be considered. Running an antique store, luck was on their side when actors from the movie "Born Free" visited. They put the men in touch with a man named George Adamson, a man portrayed in the movie who worked with lions in real life. He was preparing to release a group of lions in Kenya and hoped that Christian could be released with them. Christian first needed to learn skills to prepare him for his new life, so Ace and John moved Christian to a temporary home where he met two other lions being released. They all make the trip to Kenya together when Christian is finally released into the wild. The famous video shows their reunion one year later. This book isn't written for literary merit, but is a nice, easy to read story for kids ages 8 and up who want to know more about the video. It includes photographs of Christian as a playful and loving companion. Additional information is provided at the end of the book about Kenya and other wild animals living there. Another similar book that might be of interest is "Born Free", which is mentioned in this book.
