Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship

Bibliographic Info: Hatkoff, I. Hatkoff C., Kahumbu, P. (2006). Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship. Illus. Peter Greste. New York, New York: Scholastic Inc.

Annotation: An amazing true story about a very peculiar friendship. Owen, a baby hippo, is left abandoned after the 2004 tsunami and is taken in by a 130 year old giant tortoise. The crazy duo begins to do everything together, eating, swimming, playing and eating. They form a bond after an unthinkable disaster that makes you understand what true friendship is all about.

Genre: Animal stories

Grade Level: PK-2

Readers who will like this book: Anybody with a heart! Children will love the unsuspecting friendship and the photographs just add to the beauty of it.

Personal response: I had never heard about this pair before reading the book and it brought tears to my eyes! It is a great story of what friendship is and should be and the pictures are so heartwarming. I love animals and think we have a lot to learn from them. I rate this book at a 4 on the emotional level and overall.

A question you would ask before reading: Can two people that are completely different become best friends?

Reading Strategies Connection:
a.) Polar Opposites
b.) Students are asked to analyze characters and develop a polar opposites guide. The teacher develops a list of traits for the two characters that describe him/her. Then the teacher identifies the opposite of the traits. Students rate the characters on the guide once reading has concluded.
c.) I like the concept of the activity, but I would add to it for this particular text. I would create a guide of the different traits the hippo and the tortoise have and have the children categorize each animal. This would help them see how different the two are physically. To add to it, I would have students create similarities between the two... focusing on their actions rather than physical attributes. This would be a great way to show children that just because someone looks different does not mean they do not have similar attributes internally. "Never judge a book by its cover".