Kisah ini dimulai di London bertahun-tahun yang akan datang. Adalah Charlie Ashanti, bocah lelaki berayahkan Aneba Ashanti, ilmuwan asal Ghana (Afrika) dan beribukan Magdalen Start, juga seorang ilmuwan, asli Inggris. Maka, Charlie berkulit kecoklatan hasil berpaduan ayah-ibunya.Seperti anak lainnya, Charlie sekolah, bermain, dan senang bertualang. Ia memiliki keistimewaan yang tidak dipunyai oleh seorang anak – atau bahakan orang dewasa sekalipun – yakni, mampu berbahasa kucing.Sejarahnya begini : ketika Charlie masih bayi, ayahnya membawanya melakukan penelitian ke hutan. Suatu hari, di tengah hutan mereka berjumpa seekor macan tutul betina dengan anaknya. Anak macan itu meraung-raung kesakitan lantaran gigitan seekor ular berbisa. Saat ayah Charlie berusaha menolong (Charlie ada di dekatnya), si anak macan yang malang itu malah mencakar Charlie keras-keras. Sejak itu, Charlie sekonyong-konyong dapat berbicara dengan kucing dan keluarga besarnya. Rada mirip dengan kisah Spiderman, ya?Kemampuan istimewa itu kelak akan banyak membantu Charlie menemukan kembali ayah-ibunya yang diculik oleh sekelompok orang serakah. Mereka menuntut agar pasangan suami-istri ilmuwan itu berhenti melakukan penelitian obat penyembuh asma.Diduga , otak penculikan itu adalah seorang pemilik pabrik obat yang merasa terancam bangkrut apabila kelak obat asma berhasil ditemukan. Obat asma yang selama ini beredar di pasaran hanya penyembuh yang bersifat sementara. Para penderita dibuat tergantung pada obat ini seumur hidup mereka. Lantaran itu, maka kedua Aneba terus berupaya menemukan obat asma yang benar-benar bisa menyembuhkan secara total.Dalam upaya mencari ayah-ibunya, Charlie mengalami berbagai peristiwa menakjubkan. Dengan bantuan informasi dari para kucing sahabatnya, Charlie akhirnya mengetahui, bahwa ayah-ibunya dibawa ke Paris dengan kapal selam.Charlie pun nekat menjadi penumpang gelap Circe, sebuah kapal laut besar dan megah yang mengangkut rombongan sirkus terkenal keliling Eropa. Di sana, bocah pemberani itu kemudian dipercaya mengurus enam ekor singa. Bersama keenam sahabat barunya ini, Charlie merencanakan sebuah aksi melarikan diri.Lion Boy, sebuah dongeng kanak-kanak yang memikat. Unsur-unsur hiburan, petualangan, keberanian, kepahlawanan, persahabatan, dan fantasi sebagai unsur-unsur yang lazim terdapat dalam buku cerita kanak-kanak, terpenuhi dengan baik. Tokoh utama Charlie yang pemberani, baik hati, dan setia kawan merupakan teladan bagi kanak-kanak. Ia melawani kejahatan yang terwakili oleh tokoh Rafi Sadler, seorang remaja pria yang bekerja untuk para penculik orang tuanya. Kehadiran para kucing dan singa menggenapi keasyikan kisah petualangan Charlie.Binatang, bagi kanak-kanak, memiliki daya tarik khusus. Ayu Utami pernah menulis di majalah mingguan Tempo, bahwa hal tersebut sangat disadari oleh para penulis cerita anak-anak di Barat sana. Perhatikan saja buku-buku cerita anak impor, hampir selalu menyertakan hewan peliharaan sebagai sahabat tokoh-tokohnya.Sebut saja misalnya, serial Lima Sekawan dengan seekor anjing bernama Timmy; pada serial Tintin ada anjing kecil seputih salju bernama Snowy; di komik Asterix ada Idefix; dalam Anastasia Krupnik ada ikan maskoki bernama Frank; atau untuk menyebut contoh paling mutakhir, Harry Potter dengan burung hantu-burung hantu. Bahkan ditampilkan khusus tokoh Hagrid si penyayang segala macam binatang.Pada Lion Boy, kucing-kucing dan enam ekor singa yang terlibat, memang bukan hewan peliharaan Charlie. Tetapi mereka bersahabat dan saling menolong. Zizou Corder, nama yang tercantum sebagai penulis buku ini, merupakan nama dua orang. Mereka adalah ibu, Louisa Young dan putrinya, Isabel Adomakoh Young. Nama Zizou diambil dari nama kadal peliharaan Isabel yang juga adalah nama panggilan Zadine Zidane, pesepakbola asal Prancis. Agaknya, Isabel fans berat Zidane.Petualangan Dimulai adalah buku pertama dari trilogi Lion Boy. Bagian kedua diberi judul The Chase. Sedangkan yang terakhir adalah The Truth.
What a fun book! Just a romping, rollicking adventure story with lots of layers to it. I read this book all in one day; it's an easy read and really captured my attention. The plot even surprised me a few times!I love Charlie's character! His emotional ups and downs are perfectly timed to the pace of the plot, and give us a feel for his humanity, making him an interesting and endearing character.I loved Charlie's parents right away too; such a quirky family with their own little language!Even the villains are superbly written- creepy and petty and spiteful and sly. Just brilliant!I was completely fascinated by the lions and all the circus people. I have never never heard a circus described in such an entrancing way. I felt like I was there, watching a real circus act. I actually laughed at the clowns... and I hate clowns! Especially reading about clowns... that's totally different from seeing them. Reading about clowns is not funny; it's just annoying. What kind of enchanting writing could actually make me laugh at clowns?!? I've been bewitched! haha!I can see why the writing style (not the subject material) is compared to J.K. Rowling. It really sucks you into this other world and makes it real for you.My only complaint about this book is that some of the plot developments are a bit too fantastical and coincidental to be believable. Granted, it's a book about a boy who speaks cat-language, but still... That made it a 3-star book for me, instead of the 4-stars I might have given it.Can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy!
Do You like book Lionboy (2005)?
Charlie Ashanti is the son of two pretty well-known scientists. He has a pretty good life, he goes to his lessons everyday, he spends time with his parents, when they aren’t busy, which is kinda rare, but he still loves them all the same. The only thing that makes him different from all the other kids: he can speak Cat. One day, he comes home from his lessons, and is slightly scared to find his parents are missing, and his mums lab door is open, and it is always locked, no matter what. He assumes that his mum just left somewhere in a hurry, but the whole house is dark, too, so he tries to call his dad with his cell, but there’s no answer. Later on, he joins a circus boat. They’re sort of like his new family, but he’s not going to stay, he’s going to find his parents, who were kidnapped. Charlie speaks to the circus lions whenever he can, but it’s hard since their keeper, and his trainer is always so near. Charlie has become the Lionboy. The boy who can tame them. In the end of the book, Charlie and the lions leave the circus boat, but they’re still working on finding his parents. It’s to be continued…
—Lauren
I used this book with one of the 10 year old boys that I privately tutor; in some ways, it wasn't the ideal reading experience for me because it got read chapter by slow chapter. He enjoyed it enough, though, that he wanted to read the second in what is a trilogy. Unusually for trilogies -- which seem to be almost compulsory in YA lit these days -- this is not a stand-alone book. Indeed, if I have any criticism it is that the book ends on a cliff-hanger, with absolutely none of its issues or mysteries solved. The train, literally, has not made it into the station. In many ways, I think this breaks a sort of rule of fiction. Even with trilogies or series there should be some sense of an ending for each individual book.But this gripe aside, this is an inventive fantasy about a determined and resourceful boy who runs away in order to find his parents . . . who have gone missing under mysterious and worrying circumstances. Charlie Ashanti, the book's protagonist, can speak "cat" (including the tongue of lion, biggest of the cats) and one of his (many) adventures is liberating a group of lions from a circus. There are various sub-plots, lots of colourful goodies and baddies, and even a good big-business conspiracy. Fairly high vocabulary demands, I think. I would recommend it for imaginative children who love fantasy. It should appeal to both boys and girls.
—Beth Bonini
This book was quite good with an interesting perspective on the future. An all too real problem has become the cancer of the future and the cure is high in demand..... or so we thought. When Charlie Ashanti, the cat speaking boy's scientist parents are kidnapped after they discover the cure for asthma, Charlie is left to rescue his parents at the same time escape their kidnappers who are after him as well. With the help of his cat friends from home, stray cats from around France and a bunch of depressed lions in a travelling circus, Charlie manages to track down his parents, rescue his new-found Lion friends and piece together a conspiracy. I enjoyed this book and I often read it, although it is not one of my most favourite books, it is one of those awesome books that you can just read over and over again and still be intrigued.
—Coolbeans
