Lion Boy by Zizou Corder

Caramel Looks Up
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Caramel is a puzzle. Sometimes she is friendly and at other times she hisses at our guests. She often follows me around and will watch me cook, clean house, and exercise. She loves to sit right in the middle of the newspaper that I am reading. She sometimes looks like she wants to say sometime. If only I spoke cat.

Charlie Ashanti speaks cat. Only his parents, famous scientists in the suburbs of London, know of his rare ability. When they are kidnapped, leaving Charlie with several clues to their top secret medical research, an international network of cats helps him track and follow his parents across Europe. Being rather young and inexperienced, Charlie often acts unwisely, getting himself into difficult situations, but he learns quickly from his mistakes and uses whatever resources he finds to escape and continue his pursuit of his parents. He gets lots of help from a cast of interesting characters, including circus lions.

Lion Boy is an entertaining adventure, especially on compact disc. I enjoyed the reading of the actor Simon Jones, who creates distinctive voices for all of characters, and the use of background music in the circus scenes. I was rather surprised that the story has no conclusion; the case did not say that this is the first book of a trilogy; perhaps it does say this beneath the pocket or the barcode that the library attached. I have placed a hold on book two. Book three has not been published. I am eager to continue the story.

Corder, Zizou. Lion Boy. New York: Dial Books, 2004. ISBN 0803729820, paper 0142402265

Audio. HighBridge Audio, p2003. ISBN 1565118316