Bollo Caper

by Art Buchwald

Bollo, a leopard brought to New York to be made into a fur coat, manages to escape to Washington to try to get Congress to declare him an endangered species.

62 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 1983

About the author

American humorist best known for his long-running column of political satire and commentary that he wrote in The Washington Post, which was syndicated in over 500 newspapers. He wrote more than 30 books. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982. In 1991 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Obituary at The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...

Columns at The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...

Reviews

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't see my edition listed. It's a paperback illustrated by Elise Primavera, with Bollo on top of a cab smiling, and has the alternate subtitle: "A Furry Tail for All Ages"

I think the story is cute but not exactly feasible without the tweaks made in the animated short. In the book, Congress just HAPPENS to decide to protect animals in general after a leopard with a very pretty pattern (Bollo) appears while they're in session. In the movie, Bollo is one of the last two "golden" leopards, the animals are strangely sentient and knowledgeable, and Bollo has a letter voicing a request specifically to protect him. Like, I can believe if animals can talk (and magically know things they wouldn't, like that they get killed and made into fur coats), then they would ask for help. I can't believe that if animals can talk, and don't ask for help, that humans would just miraculously know they wanted help, especially humans in Congress.

The book is fine, but one of the cases where the movie is better.