Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship

I first bought the Owen and Mzee books for my twin granddaughters, and was so enchanted with them that I almost kept them for myself! I have now purchased a second set for the children's section of our town's new library. Every child should have these books, they are that good!

This is a wonderful book for young children about friendship. It uses two animals for the story line which gets the children hooked automatically. Great way to talk about what it is to be a good friend.

This book will touch you in so many ways. I believe it will touch everyone who can understand the vocabulary, which would be as a read aloud all the way down to 4 yr. old, and if a parent wanted to paraphrase, probably down to 2 years old. The pictures really also tell the story, they are all real photos. It is a true story . The relationship developed between these 2 creatures is actually like a miracle. No one would ever ever have predicted that it could or would happen, so I think it gives a real heart message that there always is hope, the world has lots of good still in it (like when they worked so hard to save Owen). It says that on this planet, there is someone or something you can have a very loving relationship with that will make your life so special and it might be something or someone you could never imagine in your wildest dreams. HOpe is eternal because of love.

because Owen, a baby hippo, and Mzee, a 130 year old Aldabra tortoise, who formed a remarkably close bond with each other, have been forever separated by their caretakers at Haller Park ouside Mombasa. This was announced on the LaForge Ecosystems website which was following their progress. The reason for this is that they were moved into quarters with another hippo and another Aldabra turtle. The second hippo got aggressive with the second turtle. Instead of removing her, Owen was taken away from his precious Mzee. I am sure the Park will have far less visitors now. I myself was planning to travel there just to see our two heroes. Now I will no longer visit the caretaker's website. Although I loved the book, the ultimate result has made me very sad. I even cried when I learned about it. The book itself is a joy to read if you can forget the final outcome. Photographs are astonishing and beautiful (taken by BBC photo-journalist Peter Greste). The text by Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu is perfect, and several precious drawings are included by six year old Isabella Hatkoff on the endpapers. Even a sweet, brief testimony about the wonder of this book by Caroline Kennedy is included on the back book jacket cover, underneath a photograph of Owen and Mzee dining on leaves. None of us knew how short a time they had left together.

This book was soooo sweet. It's lovely to finally know the whole story behind the popular internet photo that circulated for so long. It it chock full of amazing pictures of these friends and is also educational, explaining some geography and animal behavior. I highly recommend it for all ages. I bought it for my husband and he loved it as much as our 7 year old!