The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo (9+)
Marie Gibson,
Truly one of this gifted writer’s best works,
The Butterfly Lion is about the friendship that develops between a young boy and an African white lion. It encompasses the themes of friendship, loyalty and bravery and traverses the globe, from a boarding school in Wiltshire to the velds of South Africa and France during the First World War. Best enjoyed by nine to 11-year- old readers, it has been described as heartwarming and bitter-sweet but don’t be fooled. It is more than it seems at first – it’s a story within a story and saves its best twist for the last pages.