Customer Reviews

Owen and Mzee: Best Friends

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is really sweet. The photos are pretty and the story is easy for young children to follow. I also like the original book with a more in-depth story. I wonder how Mzee & Owen are doing now?

Note that this book is the simplified version for babies and toddlers. It is NOT the more complex book (with the green cover) that is for older children. In my mind, there are too FEW words, even for a baby book. Also, the pictures are not very clear, often fuzzy. But it is cute to look at.

This book will touch you in so many ways. I believe it will touch everyone who can understand the vocabulary, which would be as a read aloud all the way down to 4 yr. old, and if a parent wanted to paraphrase, probably down to 2 years old. The pictures really also tell the story, they are all real photos. It is a true story . The relationship developed between these 2 creatures is actually like a miracle. No one would ever ever have predicted that it could or would happen, so I think it gives a real heart message that there always is hope, the world has lots of good still in it (like when they worked so hard to save Owen). It says that on this planet, there is someone or something you can have a very loving relationship with that will make your life so special and it might be something or someone you could never imagine in your wildest dreams. HOpe is eternal because of love.

Owen is a cute baby hippo. Mzee is an adorably ugly old tortoise. They are inseparable. They eat together, they sleep together, they play follow the leader. Best of all, Owen and Mzee are real. The 130-year old tortoise adopted the orphaned hippo after the 2004 tsunami.

Please note, this is a board book for babies (6 m - 3 y; ~ 18 months is probably ideal). It uses sweet, simple sentences to talk about the basic, every day activities of these two animals. For older kids, there are other, more detailed books that tell the story of Owen and Mzee.

The one blemish to the book is that the resolution and lighting of the photography is poor -- though this is probably what it would look like if people went to visit the animals in their habitat.

This is a wonderful book for young children about friendship. It uses two animals for the story line which gets the children hooked automatically. Great way to talk about what it is to be a good friend.

Reptiles and mammals are not suppose to develop friendships, so I thought, but here it is, beautifully, amazingly described in the narrative and photos. A wonderful teaching tool for parents. I recommend that children under the age of 5 hear and see the pictures about once per month. As the child matures, the parent should draw out a happy discussion about the circumstances of Owen and then Mzee and then their union of friendship. Inspiring the imagination of young children will pay great dividends because the brain is rapidly growing in early childhood and craves sensory input and being used to set up important circuits (synapses). There can be unexpected parent-child bonding using this tool. There are more superb sermons in this book than many will see or hear in a decade.

1st, i agree with the other review. the book is sweet, but the quality is horrible. the story is just a few short gigantic block letter pages. the big problem is the "photography" , it looks like digital stills of video...blurry, washed out....terrible color. it looks like digital prints from a junk printer. it is obvious that very little thought went into this book....SHAME ON THE MAKERS OF THIS BOOK !

My grandson is enthralled with turtles of all kinds, and I purchased the longer Owen & Mzee Owen & Mzee: Language Of Friendship for him. While it was a great hit and he wants it read over and over, it is long, includes a lot of details, and a more sophisticated language than is generally comprehensible for six-year-olds. Then I saw this version and bought it so my grandson could share it with his classmates. When it arrived, I was disappointed that it turned out to be one of those thick cardboard page books which scream "baby book" to first graders who are so proud of their emerging reading skills. However, and these are the important points, this book is one my grandson can read out loud without difficulty and it is also one which tells the story simply and quickly. Not every child is fascinated with a hippo and a tortoise friendship, but the lesson comes across loud and clear even in this version - hence my four-star rating.

This is a very sweet story and nice board book for a young child or baby. The whole story is in regular book form and could accompany it for an older child.

The real photos let us know this is a real story. A real hit for Christmas given with the stuffed character dolls.