First published 2009
Ace and John are browsing for holiday presents in London when they discover something extraordinary at Harrods department store: a lion cub for sale. They cannot walk away from the young animal and decide to take him home, naming him Christian. For a full year, the two friends experience the joys and challenges of raising a lion in their London home. Christian brings fun and creates plenty of mischief as he grows from a small cub into a powerful young lion. Eventually, Ace and John face a difficult reality. Christian has outgrown their home and needs to live with his own kind in the wild. With help from friends who understand wildlife, they arrange for Christian to return to Africa and learn to survive in his natural habitat. The story follows Christian's remarkable journey from captivity to freedom and explores the lasting bond that forms between the two men and the lion they saved.
Genres: animals, adventure, contemporary, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: London, Africa, Harrods
Period: 20th-century
128 pages · Hardcover · Delacorte Books for Young Readers