We Bought a Zoo Paperback by Benjamin Mee

Product Details

• Publisher: Anchor Canada (2011-11-15)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 272 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780385666220
• Item Weight: 255.15 grams
• Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 cm

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

The remarkable true story of a family who move into a rundown zoo—already a BBC documentary miniseries and excerpted in The Guardian. 

In the market for a house and an adventure, Benjamin Mee moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. His friends and colleagues thought he was crazy.

But in 2006, Mee and his wife with their two children, his brother, and his 76-year-old mother moved into the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Their extended family now included: Solomon, an African lion and scourge of the local golf course; Zak, the rickety Alpha wolf, a broadly benevolent dictator clinging to power; Ronnie, a Brazilian tapir, easily capable of killing a man, but hopelessly soppy; and Sovereign, a jaguar and would-be ninja, who has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it.

Nothing was easy, given the family’s lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy. We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances.

About the Author

BENJAMIN MEE is a former newspaper columnist known for his humorous Do It Yourself column in the UK’s Guardian Weekend. In 2005 he published a collection of these articles in a volume entitled The Call of DIY: A Toolkit of Practical Wisdom. He holds a degree in psychology and spends his time studying animal behavior.