Book Summary: This is a nonfiction story about a baby hippo, who was orphaned after the 2004 tsunami, and a 130 year old giant tortoise whose friendship was shown around the world. These two adopted each other and are inseparable. Professional Review: The emotional lives of animals are compelling to many children, and few stories suggest their existence more stirringly than that of Owen and Mzee--an orphaned baby hippo and a giant tortoise, whose real-world bond, formed in the wake of the Indonesian tsunami, defied naturalists' expectations. This season, two excellent books about the duo join Jeanette Winter's Mama and the New York Times best-seller Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (both 2006), whose follow-up title is reviewed here.
Worlds away from Winter's retelling, in which the nearly wordless text and stark design offered youngsters little buffer against Owen's terrifying separation from his mother, Bauer's picture-book version closely matches its narrative and visual tones to its target audience. A rhythmic, lulling narrative smooths the barbed edges of the disaster ("The rain fell and it fell and it fell. The Sabaki River rose and it rose and it rose"), and Butler's feathery illustrations, featuring smiling, doe-eyed animals rendered in soft tones of butter, rose, and lavender, hint at the sunny outcome even during the story's troubling opening scenes. Composition choices, too, spin the trauma appropriately for the very young; for instance, even as Bauer acknowledges, post-tsunami, that Owen's mother was "lost" and Owen himself was "alone in the sea,"
For somewhat older readers, Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship updates children on its famous subjects through crisp, immediate photos taken at the Kenyan refuge they call home. The same complicated supporting cast is featured in this book, including a father-daughter team; a naturalist from the refuge; and photojournalist Greste, whose photos here are more varied, abundant, and consistent in quality than before. Along with assuring children that the bond between Owen and Mzee is "stronger than ever," the authors chronicle the animals' system of communication, involving nudges, nips, and even a special kind of call. Libraries that own the first title will certainly want to add this title; those that don't may wish to purchase just this one, which gives the necessary context and duplicates some elements from the earlier book, while extending the information--through references to naturalists' concerns about Owen's need to interact with other hippos, and about Mzee's safety as his companion grows to his 7,000-pound size--in a way that moves beyond the pat, heartwarming aspects of the incident to ask fascinating questions about animal behavior.--Jennifer Mattson
Library Uses:
· Character Connections lessons focusing on Resilience.
· Story time with a lesson focusing on recognizing and appreciating differences in people ideas and situations. This book shows the importance of caring of others who may not be similar to us.
· Visit www.owenandmzee.com with students. Teach some of the sing along songs. Show them a variety of photographs and online activities that they can use on their own time.
· Using the web site launch a research project about unlikely animal friends around the world. An option for the students would be for them to create their own documentary with the tools provided on the website.
Hatkoff, I. , Hatkoff, C., & Kahumbu, P. (2006). Owen & Mzee
The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship. New York
Scholastic Press.
Mattson, J. (2006, Dec. 15) Book Review of Owen & Mzee The
True Story of a Remarkable Friendship. [Review of the book
Owen & Mzee The Ture Story of a Remarkable Friendship
by I. Hatkoff, C. Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu]. Booklist
103 (8), p51.
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