Scarred Lions

Buyisiwe has spent his life in London with his mother, but when she can no longer afford to look after him, he is sent to South Africa, to live with his father – a man he has never met.

Buyisiwe’s father is a ranger on a game reserve and introduces his son to a new way of life, one which contrasts sharply to his previously urban existence.   Buyisiwe makes friends quickly and comes to like the dramatic landscape of his new home, but he finds his father a strict and distant figure. It takes a terrifying encounter with a hungry lion to bring father and son closer together.

This book has been written to appeal to teenagers who find reading difficult; it uses short sentences and paragraphs and an easy-to-read font. Although the writing quality is sometimes variable, on the whole this is an interesting, and at times, gripping, story.