| Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship | 
| Authors: Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, Paula Kahumbu
Creator: Peter Greste
Brand: Scholastic Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy Used: $1.57
as of 9/4/2010 03:15 EDT details
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Seller: worldofbooksusa
Rating:  81 reviews
Sales Rank: 31,785
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Pages: 40
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.7 x 10.8 x 0.4
MPN: 9780439829731
ISBN: 0439829739
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.635139
EAN: 9780439851138
ASIN: 0439829739
Publication Date: February 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| | ISBN13: 9780439829731 | | | Condition: New | | | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
This book tells the true story of a friendship between a tortoise and a hippopotamus.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 81
 Heartwarming story with wonderful pictures! January 30, 2006
Nessie (Arlington, VA)
91 out of 95 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.
A Beautiful Story of Love February 3, 2006
F. Red
28 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!
A Genuine Charmer About the Bonding Between Opposites in the Animal Kingdom May 21, 2006
Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA)
30 out of 31 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.
Wonderful, heart-warming and hopeful March 1, 2006
Alexander M. Moir (Huntington, NY)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book full of beautiful, adorable photos of Owen the hippo, Mzee the tortoise and the loving people who have helped them. It's ostensibly a children's book, though I myself, age 27, saw it and practically started crying in the bookstore. A truly beautiful story of love and success in the face of dire adversity (the 2004 tsunami) and a pairing you thought you could only find in a Disney movie. This is a great story to read to your kids, students or even just give a glance yourself.
THE FRIENDSHIP IS OVER!!! September 20, 2006
Elaine J. Campbell (Rancho Mirage, CA United States)
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
because Owen, a baby hippo, and Mzee, a 130 year old Aldabra tortoise, who formed a remarkably close bond with each other, have been forever separated by their caretakers at Haller Park ouside Mombasa. This was announced on the LaForge Ecosystems website which was following their progress. The reason for this is that they were moved into quarters with another hippo and another Aldabra turtle. The second hippo got aggressive with the second turtle. Instead of removing her, Owen was taken away from his precious Mzee.
I am sure the Park will have far less visitors now. I myself was planning to travel there just to see our two heroes. Now I will no longer visit the caretaker's website. Although I loved the book, the ultimate result has made me very sad. I even cried when I learned about it.
The book itself is a joy to read if you can forget the final outcome. Photographs are astonishing and beautiful (taken by BBC photo-journalist Peter Greste). The text by Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu is perfect, and several precious drawings are included by six year old Isabella Hatkoff on the endpapers. Even a sweet, brief testimony about the wonder of this book by Caroline Kennedy is included on the back book jacket cover, underneath a photograph of Owen and Mzee dining on leaves. None of us knew how short a time they had left together.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 81
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