The Mystery of the Missing Lion Book Review

The book was sitting in the new release section in the kids area of the library so I grabbed it.  The Mystery of the Missing Lion: A Precious Ramotswe Mystery for Young Readers(3) by Alexander McCall Smith sounded like a good book that I would enjoy reading with my son.  I love the other books by the author so I knew that I would love the writing.  His childrens books are just as entertaining as the adult books and perfectly on track with other kids chapter books.

Young Precious gets a very special treat.  She gets a trip to visit her Aunty Bee at a safari camp.  While there she makes a new friend, a boy named Khumo, and meets an actor-lion named Teddy, who is starring in a film.  When Teddy disappears, Khumo and Precious will brave hippos and crocodiles as they search for the missing lion.

This is a great story about how Precious uses her detective skills to help the adults realize what they are doing wrong.  It is a great story with the tilt towards what kids want to hear!  I read it with my son and we both enjoyed the book and reading it together.  The books pictures, although only in red, gray and black, were very vivid and reminded me of African artwork instead of graphics in a normal book.  My son told me that we didn't have to read the educational part after the book because he didn't ever plan on going to Africa so he didn't need to know about it.  I told him that we learn to read about things and we don't have to go there to appreciate the information about the country.  He agreed but I think he just wanted to make sure that we didn't have to read it again to make sure he remembered all of the details.  In the back of the book, there is also a section on pre-reading activities, discussion questions, and curriculum connections to geography, science, language arts and social studies.  It is great that there is not only a book but with just a little more effort you could work this into an curriculum that you wanted to teach your kids at any level they are currently working at.  I hope that you check this book out whether kid or adult and find out all the wonderful books that Alexander McCall Smith has for kids and adults alike!!!!