The Butterfly Lion

by Michael Morpurgo

Book Overview

A lyrical and moving tale of a young boy growing up in Africa, and his lifelong friendship with a white lion, from a master storyteller 'Will touch all hearts - both young and old' Virginia McKenna,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0006751032
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: HARPER COLLINS
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.4" x 4.8"

Customer Reviews

Butterfly Lion

Excellent! I read this aloud at night with my daughters, ages 9 & 7. We ALL loved it. Morgpurgo quickly draws you in to feel compassion for the lion and for the boy. They both lose each other in Africa and then reunite years later in war-torn Europe, as grown man and adult lion. Mr. Morpurgo takes his reader through the sadness of loss and then through the happiness of triumph...and throws in a bit of a twist at the end. My daughters will definitely re-read this book on their own. A perfect choice for birthday & Christmas gifts.

Butterfly lion

This book is a very great book for children 3rd through 6th grade. It was a story about adopted lion of a young boy, then the lion is forced to go. Later in the boys life he reilizes what the lion ment to him. This is a sad story or a happy story. It is you who will chose.

This book captured my imagination

This story is the winner of the Smarties Prize and Writers Guild award. A boy called Bertie rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African Veldt. They are inseparable until Bertie is sent to boarding school far away in England and the lion is sold to a circus. Bertie swears that one day they will see one another again, but the butterfly lion never forgets their friendship.I would recommend this story to nine to thirteen year olds. I would give this story a mark of ten out of ten for being so interesting and capturing my imagination. My best character was the butterfly lion because I felt really sorry for him that he left his friend to go to the circus. My favourite part is when the butterflies fly away from the chalk picture of the lion on the hillside.

Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee - Yr 2000

This title was appreciated by enough students and professional librarians and teachers to make the Year 2000 list of nominees for Illinois' childrens' choice award named after the Illinois author Rebecca Caudill. This book is best for grades 4-6. A sweet frame story set in England containing many elements popular with young readers: animals, family, tragedy, and (surprisingly) a ghost!

Hauntingly beautiful ghost story.

As Millie, an elderly widow, retells the story of her husband Bertie's relationship with a rare white lion, you fall in love with the story and wish something so fantastic could happen to you. The author's attention to the details of the setting make it so real that you can almost see that magical lion. The tender-hearted reader should have a few tissues close by.