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Owen & Mzee: The True Story Of A Remarkable Friendship | 
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| Authors: Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff And Dr. Paula Kahumbu
Creator: Peter Greste
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy Used: $2.81
You Save: $14.18 (83%)
New (42) Used (27) from $2.81
Rating:  78 reviews
Sales Rank: 5583
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Pages: 40
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 9.7 x 0.4
ISBN: 0439829739
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.635139
EAN: 9780439829731
ASIN: 0439829739
Publication Date: February 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Standard used condition.
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Product Description
The inspiring true story of two great friends, a baby hippo named Owen and a 130-yr-old giant tortoise named Mzee (Mm-ZAY). When Owen was stranded after the Dec 2004 tsunami, villagers in Kenya worked tirelessly to rescue him. Then, to everyone's amazement, the orphan hippo and the elderly tortoise adopted each other. Now they are inseparable, swimming, eating, and playing together. Adorable photos e-mailed from friend to friend quickly made them worldwide celebrities. Here is a joyous reminder that in times of trouble, friendship is stronger than the differences that too often pull us apart.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 73 more reviews...
 Heartwarming story with wonderful pictures! January 30, 2006
Nessie (Arlington, VA)
87 out of 93 found this review helpful
When I heard that a book had been written about the friendship between Owen, an orphaned hippopotamus, and Mzee, the old tortoise, I knew I had to get it. This is a lovely story that will warm the hearts of children and adults and can be used to illustrate resiliency, the strength of friendship, and how creatures that don't look alike can get along. This book is worth buying for the pictures alone.
Adorable and uplifting @}->--- February 2, 2006
Little Miss Cutey (Melbourne, Australia)
63 out of 82 found this review helpful
When the tsunami hit back in late 2004, some animals that were now homeless were moved to Hallard Park in Kenya (an animal sanctuary). Owen (130 year old hippo) was one of the animals moved and within three minutes of being in his new home, he met Mzee, the tortise. Ever since the two have been inseperable. It's adorable to see through these pictures the amazing friendship that has been formed. They swim, eat and play together. This story has touched so many hearts and it shows that after disasters, can come hope and resiliance. It also shows that love can develop in the most unlikely places. This book is a treat for absolutely anyone. Whether you are an animal lover or not, this story is simply amazing and the beautiful pictures show the cute twosome caring for each other. Such a great, beautiful read. Go get this now for yourself or a gift. It will appeal to everyone for sure.
A Genuine Charmer About the Bonding Between Opposites in the Animal Kingdom May 21, 2006
Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA)
32 out of 34 found this review helpful
I have to admit I was drawn into this story when I saw it on CNN. This captivating book - aimed toward children but also quite amenable toward any animal lover - describes the true story of a baby hippo named Owen, an inadvertent victim of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami who was left stranded on a coral reef forever separated from his mother. Taken to a nature reserve to live, Owen meets Mzee, a 130-year old Aldabra tortoise. After some initial resistance from Mzee, the two start to bond, and Mzee becomes the young hippo's protector.
This simple friendship story is told by Manhattan-based children's book author Craig Hatkoff and his six-year old daughter Isabella (who drew the adorable pictures at the end of the book), both so entranced by the photo of the two animals lying peacefully next to each other, that they contacted Dr. Paula Kahumbu, the general manager of the reserve, and Kenya-based photojournalist Peter Greste, who had been meticulously chronicling Owen's rescue and resettlement. The subsequent collaboration among the four has produced an intoxicating chronicle of the unlikely friendship that developed between animals with nothing in common but their dependence on each other. The text is not at all cloying but straightforward and factual.
Having had the good fortune to see the giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands and the hippopotamuses along the Masai River in Kenya, I can tell you that such bonding is extraordinary to see in Greste's wonderful photographs. The authors obviously provide life lessons in strength and resilience and ignoring surface differences toward a greater good. Luckily, sentimentality is kept to a minimum, and the result is a charmer. For those interested in keeping up with Owen and Mzee, caretaker Stephen Tuei keeps an online journal of their daily activities on the Lafarge Eco Systems Web site.
"Our most important friends are sometimes those we least expected" November 2, 2006
Sarah M. Puglisi (United States)
32 out of 33 found this review helpful
This extraordinary book of friendship came to me as a gift in a box of books sent by a friend to a school teacher across the country. How perfect is it that two people that have only written about a mutual love of literature, math, children and learning can find in this book the story of love and friendship and "things we can never really know."?
My class will be delighted when I return from my few days out with a terrible pneumonia bug to read to them of such an unlikely pairing. This is the story of Owen a baby hippo and Mzee a 130 year old Aldabra tortoise. Due to a flood and a kind of disaster the baby hippo was rescued and moved into the care of Haller Park near Mombasa in Kenya. Once in the sanctuary, baby hippo found the giant tortoise and made a true friend, an at first reluctant one. Clearly they are not ordinarily thought of as companions....and yet..here they are together and bonded. It worked really. We learn their bonding worked to aid them both with their everyday living as friendship so often does. The pictures and story are delightful, real, clear, sensitive. I think this work echoes another book I have about Koko's kitten. It is a story revealing something of the natural world, something children want to understand and learn about, something wondrous and at times unfathomable. This would be a wonderful present to child or classroom and definitely a love story.....and one only a friend can really appreciate when opening a box far away to discover someone thought about them and sent a surprise to say I care.
A Beautiful Story of Love February 3, 2006
F. Red
25 out of 28 found this review helpful
I am simply blown away by everything about this book and story. I have shared this heartwarming story with everyone who will listen. I congratulate Isabella (6 yoa) who had the vision and her father who had the know-how to make this book happen. Regardless of age or gender, you will be astounded by this book; the relationship between the main characters normally just does not happen in nature. But the photos made me a believer. Life is mysterious!
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