Product Description

ILLUSTRATED BY CHRISTIAN BIRMINGHAM. A lyrical and moving tale of a young boy growing up in Africa, and his lifelong friendship with a white lion. "All my life I'll think you you, I promise I will. I won't ever forget you." Bertie rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African veld. They are inseparable until Bertie is sent to boarding school far away in England and the lion is sold to a circus. Bertie swears that one day they will see one another again, but it is the butterfly lion which ensures that their friendship will never be forgotten.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #708 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

From the Author
The Butterfly Lion grew from several magical roots: The memories of a small boy who tried to run away from school a long time ago; a book about a pride of white lions discovered by Chris McBride; a chance meeting in a lift with Virginia McKenna, actress and champion of lions and all creatures born free; a true story of a soldier of the First World War who rescued some circus animals in France from certain death; and the sighting from a train of a white horse carved out on a chalky hillside near Westbury in Wiltshire.

To Chris McBride, Virigina McKenna and Gina Pollinger - many many thanks. And to you the reader - enjoy it! Michael Morpurgo (FEB 1996)

From the Back Cover
"All my life I'll think of you, I promise I will. I won't ever forget you."

Bertie rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African veld. They are inseparable until Bertie is sent to boarding school far away in England and the lion is sold to a circus. Bertie swears that one day they will see one another again, but the butterfly lion ensures that their friendship will never be forgotten.

About the Author
Michael divides his time between his writing and running Farms for City Children, a charity which each year takes up to 3,000 children to a working farm for a week. Michael and his wife Clare were awarded MBEs this year for their work with the charity. Before the first farm opened 22 years ago, Morpurgo was a teacher and his knowledge of children's experiences, plus his experience of Farms enrich his writing enormously. Michael Morpurgo has won the Whitbread Children's Book Award, and the Smarties Book Prize.

Customer Reviews

My Year 4 Literacy group couldn't wait for the next chapter
I have just read The Butterfly Lion to my Literacy group in Year 4.

They gasped and sniffed in all the right places. One boy said he thought the story was over in the middle section and had wondered that night how the story could move through the remaining pages.

They sat in silence to hear the story everyday. I would certainly recommend it to other teachers as it can be enjoyed by children of all abilities. Adults will also enjoy the themes and the story itself.

One of my Favourite books!!!
I liked the book because when I read a chapter I always want to read more to get to the exciting bit.The best part of the book was when Bertie meets the white lion because I know how it feels when you haven't seen a friend for several years.
This is one of the best books I have ever read and I can't wait to read other Michael Morpurgo books.
I would recommend this book to anyone from age 7 onwards.

b-b-b-b-b-b-brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michael Morpurgo, my favourite author, wrote this touching book full of both tears of joy and of sorrow. It is full of laughter, grief and a few escapes from boring boarding school. Another good quality of this book is that it is like Michael Morpurgo is recounting this event but I don't think this actually happened, (but I wish it had).
This book is definitely one of my favourite books, one down from my all time favourite, (which most probably will never be replaced), `Little Foxes'. It will enchant anyone, adult or child, who pick it up; they will be unable to put it down until the very end of this book, it certainly happened with me! I would rate it, as you can probably guess, 10/ 10 because Morpurgo you have once again fascinated me with one of your unique and clever tales.