A great big wave started near India and all the way to Kenya (called a tsunami) December 26, 2004 (called Boxing Day). A lot of bad things happened; houses were broken, lots of people died and other bad things.
One very good thing missionaries and other people came to help. Another good thing is a happy story. We read a story called Owen & Mzee; The Language of Friendship, by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu on our vacation. You can get the book from the Pierre Moran branch of the Elkhart Public Library.
The pictures are neat too, they go totally along with the story.
Owen is a baby hippo in the true story. His family did not survive the tsunami. But he was stranded on a coral reef. Finally someone named Owen tackled him so the other people could rescue him off the coral reef. He was as tall as Adrian and weighed 600 pounds! That’s a lot. That’s as much as Mommy and Daddy, and me and Adrian, and Audrey and Andrea and Maryam! Which is a lot, right?
Mzee (mm-ZAY) is a 130 year old male Aldabra tortoise. An Aldabra tortoise is one of the largest tortoises in the world.
Owen and Mzee became friends. I am not sure how this happened, but they became really really really really really really… (and a hundred more reallys) good friends.
But now they are separated. Owen may hurt Mzee without intending too.
I want you to read the story, so I am not going to tell you anymore. It is interesting.
You can also look at what’s going on at Owen and Mzee’s website 🙂
Here’s a good one for kids about Owen and Mzee. It’s like a newspaper or newsletter.
My rating on this book is 500 out of 500. I like it a lot!
Can you tell me if you read the book? “Hey Mark, I read the book…!” (You can use other words if you want 🙂 )