In 1969, Anthony "Ace" Bourke and John Rendall bought a pet from Harrods that was neither a beagle nor a parrot. Instead, "Christian" was a cuddly lion cub who soon became the most regal and noticeable resident of their flat on King's Road. Of course, lion cubs grow at a prodigious rate, and it was not long before his devoted owners realized that he belonged back in the jungle. Wisely, they dispatched him to Kenya, where he was put under the expert transitional care of "the father of lions," Born Free legend George Adamson. Christian returned to the wild, but when Bourke and Rendall visited him a year later, they discovered that their former pet had not only remembered them -- he greeted them with fervor and affection. This profusely illustrated book tells the extraordinary story of a truly moving interspecies friendship.
Americans love their pets, especially cats and dogs—there are about 150 million of the critters in our homes right now, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. So it’s no surprise that cats and dogs turn up pretty often in literature, either as companions to fictional people, or (occasionally) as the primary characters. If you […]