School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-This second book in the trilogy finds Charlie Ashanti right where readers left him: on a train with escaped circus lions in the King of Bulgaria's bathroom. But although the previous book ended with Charlie and the lions abruptly finding safety and warmth, "without a doubt, there were going to be troubles ahead." That is an understatement. Charlie and the lions manage to travel from the Alpine mountains to Paris and then on to Venice, eventually ending in Morocco with the promise of forthcoming adventures. Along the way they are pursued, captured, held prisoner, escape, stow away on a boat, and experience a host of other trials, all the while uncovering bits and pieces of the nefarious plot put into action by big drug companies and corrupt governments. Luckily the suspense and hairpin turns not only keep the story moving forward, but they also keep the messages from becoming too didactic. The supporting cast is enormous, and readers may find themselves wishing for fewer characters with more depth as their motives and actions are often too vague and capricious to follow. Still, in the end, there are plenty of questions left unanswered, and fans of the young Lionboy will leave this installment looking forward to the third book.-Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Charlie Ashanti and his lions on the lam return in LionBoy: The Chase by Zizou Corder, illus. by Fred Van Deelen, the sequel to LionBoy. Here Charlie travels to Venice, where he mistakenly thinks his parents (kidnapped in book one) are being held. Charlie learns further details about "Allergenie" cats and their relationship to the human allergy plague as his parents mount an escape from the Corporacy. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Imprisoned in a mansion in Venice, Charlie and his lion friends don+t experience as many wild escapades as in the first book in the series, but Charlie does manage to figure out the mystery behind his scientist parents+ kidnapping. Written by an adult-child team, the story catapults the reader through a zany plot driven by outrageous characters. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Readers who sank their teeth into the first of the Lionboy trilogy will lick their chops over the second. With a short recap, the story immediately picks up the pell-mell pace as Charlie and the six escaped circus lions and one saber-toothed big cat travel by train to Venice to find his scientist parents, kidnapped for their asthma cure, and return the cats to their home in Essaouira (Africa). Abetted by a scruffy street cat, Sergei, Charlie's ability to catspeak is the key device throughout the convoluted chases as the "tribe" survives a shipwreck, escapes from a Venetian palazzo, and is drugged. The saber tooth miraculously becomes the revered winged lion of St. Marks, deposing the doge, and reviving the city. Numerous villains impose constant dangers: the Corporacy that is taking over the world with genetically modified felines that make kids sick with asthma to sell medicine, the evil lionmaster, and the ruffian hired to abduct Charlie. Fast-paced cinematic action will leave readers panting for the next installment. (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-8. Charlie the Catspeaker again receives assistance from felines large and small in the second book in the Lionboy trilogy, written under a pseudonym by Louisa Young and her 10-year-old daughter, Isabel. The action resumes with Charlie en route to Venice to rescue his kidnapped parents, accompanied by a pride of liberated circus lions and the friendly King of Bulgaria. It turns out, though, that Charlie's parents are not in Venice but Vence, in France, where they are being brainwashed by the insidious Corporacy. Meanwhile, Charlie and his four-legged companions become ensnared in a plot to stage a manifestation of the legendary Lion of San Marco. Lingering questions are satisfactorily resolved by book's end (What are the Allergenies? Why is the Corporacy so interested in the Ashanti family?), although the effusive, travelogue-like descriptive passages may challenge some readers' attention spans. Those who persist, though, will be rewarded with a bang-up conclusion that harbors none of the vagueness typically found in bridge books --novels that simply postpone an overlong plot's finale. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2004 Booklist
