Review of "Lionboy: The Chase" by Zizou Corder, Fred Van Deelen

I have listed this adventure book, both the first and second of this trilogy, in the adult section, but kids will love it and they'll love to have it read to them. It really is a chance for a family to all enjoy a story and spend some time together reading and discussing the amazing life of the boy who speaks "Cat."

In the first book we meet the boy and his parents. His parents are both scientists and have been working on a cure for asthma. Their boy, Charlie, has asthma. Charlie also has the unique ability to speak with and understand cats. Then the parents are kidnapped, and Charlie runs off to circus where he frees the captured lions and promises to guide them back to their home in Africa. The escape of the boys and the lions add up to a great adventure tale.

The parents have been kidnapped by a major pharmacy company and have been taken to a place where they are being brainwashed and drugged. The company wants to destroy the Asthma cure formula because they produce medicine that is already widely used for this disease.

Now the boy and the lions have escaped capture by riding on the top of a train. It's a private train belonging to a king who is fascinated by the lions and the boy, and vows to help them. There are new characters to meet and many more adventures to read. Charlie is torn between his lions and his parents, but the lions must come first. The group has added a new and strange lion that adds much to the story. Remember that all kinds of cats are helping all the way telling the boy where to look for his parents and how to get there.

OK, it may be a story for kids but I enjoyed the adventures recited here very much. To add to the rarity of this exciting story the Lionboy is of African descent and the hero of this story.