Finding the story in "Lion Boy: The Chase" was very difficult, for the author leapt at nearly every opportunity to 'soap box' about various political topics today, an effort that is very amusing considering that the book is aimed at the eight- year-old crowd, a group that it is completely unsuited for much of the book's material. While Lion Boy is written in a simple, pleasant style that would be enjoyable to the younger set, the "political correctness" of several elements in the story rendered it a mere vehicle for political opinionating. Topics covered by Zizou Corder include animal rights, drugs, racial equality, cloning, women's rights, and finally Catholicism. Animal rights played an enormous role in this book, and animal rights were given as the excuse when Charlie Ashanti and his lion friends finally captured one of their enemies and decided to keep him in a perpetual drugged state, an act which is horrifying, especially considering that it promotes the use of drugs on the helpless. Zizou Corder's attacks on cloning and racism were commendable, but she could not resist following up on them with an ill-placed speech on women's rights. It can be considered very interesting that the author virtually snatched every opportunity available to ridicule the Catholic religion and portray its members as superstitious morons at best--at worst, uneducated imbeciles.

Other problems include language, mild sensuality, and certain paranoia elements that might be disturbing to children. Despite these problems, "Lion Boy" had several good points, including an exciting plot, well constructed text, and interesting character developments, though the book is abysmally unsuitable for children. The book was a great disappointment, for I had hoped to find a thrilling good yarn for kids and instead found yet another political soapbox disguised as a children's novel.