What do you think?
Rate this book
Zoe's Rescue Zoo #1
The Lonely Lion Cub
When Great-Uncle Horace brings back lost and homeless animals from his travels around the globe, it falls to Zoe, and her mum, the zoo vet, to settle them into their new home. She's good at this, because she can understand what they say and talk to them, too. But that's a secret! In this first book, a tiny lion cub comes to stay at the zoo and Zoe must ask Leonard, the grumpy old lion, for his help.
128 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2013
79 people are currently reading
335 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 30, 2017
My shy first grader loved this book so much that she asked her school librarian to help her find more in the series (a big deal for her). It's like the series was made for my daughter: there are baby animals to help, a few animal facts sprinkled in, a main character with the supernatural ability to talk with the animals, minimal adult interference in the storyline and cute illustrations.
July 22, 2020
Zoe can talk talk to animals. As Leonardo comes he must befriend Rori who doesn't even know Zoe's ability as whenever Zoe goes near him he starts to growl. At the end Zoe takes a big risk and opens the gate that contains Rori. Nobody noices as theyh are all busy fighting.Rori and Leo are finally friends.
July 21, 2020
In my review about the scruffy sea otter, I mentioned I enjoyed Zoe's rescue zoo. Zoe is always helping new animals and the best thing about it is that she can understand animals and talk to them. In this book the cub feels soo lonely. However Zoe is thinking to put Rory the lion cub with Leonardo the rude lion who roars and says go away. However at the emd, Zoe's plan works and she figures out that Leonardo is only grumpy because he is lonelyjust like Rory the lion cub.
July 28, 2024
My daughter loved this book! Talking animals is such a fun idea for her. However I didn’t love the “secrecy” portion of the book and how Zoe disobeyed her moms instructions. I just skipped over those parts.
January 27, 2024
I rated Zoe’s Rescue Zoo: The Lonely Lion Cub 4 out of 5 stars because it has lots of adventuring and lots of animals. For example, once Zoe had to sneak out at night to see the lion cub named Rory. I recommend Zoe’s Rescue Zoo if you’re an animal lover and love adventures or any other kind of personality (because this book is good for most kinds). So, go right now and read books from Zoe’s Rescue Zoo but read them in number order. Zoe’s Rescue Zoo: The Lonely Lion Cub is the first of Zoe’s Rescue Zoo so go and read it right now!!!
June 9, 2021
My daughters (who are 5 and 7) and I have really enjoyed reading this book series together. Zoe is a young girl who lives inside a rescue zoo with her veterinarian mother, her great uncle Horace who founded the zoo, and her best friend Meep, a cheeky mouse-lemur. When Zoe turned six she discovered a secret ability - she can talk to animals. In every book, the story starts when Great Uncle Horace brings a newly rescued animal to the zoo, and Zoe's special connection to animals means she must help them.
We just reread The Lonely Lion cub and it's the most memorable book of the series for me. Rory is a little lion cub who comes to the zoo traumatized after his entire pride was taken by poachers. Rory refuses to eat and starts to get weak at the zoo hospital. The zoo has one other lion, an old grumpy male named Leonard who roars at other people. After talking to Leonard, Zoe realizes that Leonard also has a difficult past and that his bad behavior is in fact the result of his own trauma and loneliness. Zoe has the idea to move Rory into Leonard's enclosure in the hopes that Leonard will befriend Rory. But Zoe has a hard time convincing her mother and the rest of the zoo staff, given that an aggressive grown male like Leonard could be a danger to the cub. Zoe is the only one that knows the true reasons behind the lions' emotions and that makes her alone in her own right amongst these other grown ups. But Zoe is a positive, caring young girl who deeply loves animals and that drives her to resourcefully solve the problem. With a clear and upbeat writing style, the author tells the story of Zoe ultimately saving her new animal friend.
We just reread The Lonely Lion cub and it's the most memorable book of the series for me. Rory is a little lion cub who comes to the zoo traumatized after his entire pride was taken by poachers. Rory refuses to eat and starts to get weak at the zoo hospital. The zoo has one other lion, an old grumpy male named Leonard who roars at other people. After talking to Leonard, Zoe realizes that Leonard also has a difficult past and that his bad behavior is in fact the result of his own trauma and loneliness. Zoe has the idea to move Rory into Leonard's enclosure in the hopes that Leonard will befriend Rory. But Zoe has a hard time convincing her mother and the rest of the zoo staff, given that an aggressive grown male like Leonard could be a danger to the cub. Zoe is the only one that knows the true reasons behind the lions' emotions and that makes her alone in her own right amongst these other grown ups. But Zoe is a positive, caring young girl who deeply loves animals and that drives her to resourcefully solve the problem. With a clear and upbeat writing style, the author tells the story of Zoe ultimately saving her new animal friend.
August 25, 2021
I liked this book because when the lion cub was struggling to eat Zoe took him to the male lions enclosure. This shows that Zoe would try anything to help the animals.
I found this book interesting because Zoe broke the rules to help the animals. This shows that the book is an adventure book which I enjoy.
I found this book interesting because Zoe broke the rules to help the animals. This shows that the book is an adventure book which I enjoy.
April 19, 2024
What a great children's series. Perfect for kids transitioning to their first middle grade chapter books from elementary stories. Combines all those things little girls dream of - talking to animals, living at a zoo ....and there's a little bit of the mystical (an uncle who comes flying in a hot air balloon).
January 17, 2026
Que historia más bonita. Y en inglés además jejeje el prota viaja por el mundo rescatando animales y llega al zoo un cachorro de león que tiene que ser vigilado por un viejo y gruñón león…
Pero todo sale bien y nos enseñan el valor de respetarnos los unos a los otros y del cuidado hacia los animales. Es muy bonito el libro y el mensaje.
Pero todo sale bien y nos enseñan el valor de respetarnos los unos a los otros y del cuidado hacia los animales. Es muy bonito el libro y el mensaje.
June 24, 2017
I wasn't sure about this book at first because the description of the enclosures at the zoo had me worried. The zoo, however, turned out to be better than I originally thought, so that made me like the book better.
January 28, 2023
I loved this book! On occasion, I will read a children's book, just to help me de-stress and clear out the old cobwebs in the brain. This was a good one. I plan to read the other two in the series. Kudos to the illustrator, Sophy Williams; her work was charming and very cute.
January 31, 2023
Lovely gentle story. No technology, battles, aliens or robots involved. Just a girl living in a rescue zoo who can talk to animals and helps out her mum who is a vet. My boys(5 and 7) really enjoyed it. The story is quite short, only about 120 pages, with well structured chapters.
March 29, 2018
Amazing book! Even tho it is very short it is amazinly good i defenetly recomend reading this series/book
November 8, 2018
A delightful story about a little girl who lives in a rescue zoo.
November 15, 2018
A fun book. Quite simple and rather predictable. Perfect for a young animal lover.
March 19, 2019
I LOVE i🐯😍
January 2, 2020
Very popular with miss 7
March 18, 2020
I read this to my five-year old daughter; she gave it 5 stars. Personally, I think her ratings are inflated!
September 14, 2020
Loved this story! Lots of animals, peppered with facts. A bit of fantasy and problem solving. Sweet story with a happy ending.
October 30, 2020
Another lovely book from Zoe's rescue zoo series. Really enjoying these well written children's stories with my 7 year old son x
January 5, 2021
Cute and really really fun book
May 3, 2021
My daughter & I read together. Typical Scholastic Book Fair type of book. Not very interesting to me but she liked it ok. Just meh in my opinion.
August 1, 2021
Po recenzję zapraszam na mojego bookstagrama: @books_by_julia
January 3, 2023
Cute little chapter book for early elementary students. Sweet illustrations and a story with a happy ending. Great for kids who love animals.
January 27, 2023
Super cute for kids who love animals. We read a chapter every night. There’s even some educational bits in there too.
Read
March 5, 2023Adorable 🙊😍
May 16, 2023
Zatím jsem se nedopátrala, proč nemá Ema tatínka.
May 25, 2023
This book is a very interesting story, specially if you are an animal lover. the only thing I didn´t like was how mister Pinch wanted to trap Meep to put in an enclosure.
September 21, 2023
Adorable!
January 22, 2024
My 6 year old son really liked this. He's excited for us to read the next in the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews