School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-As this final volume in the trilogy opens, Charlie Ashanti and his scientist parents have been reunited in Morocco. Now, however, they must run from a powerful network of corporations that had arranged their kidnapping in order to have control of their anti-asthma medication. Enemy Rafi Sadler is kidnapped alongside Charlie at the hands of lion trainer Maccomo, who hopes to sell Charlie's cat-speaking talents. The details of captivity and escape occupy most of the book. Tension and adventure hold taut on every page, but descriptions of the Corporacy Community assume an understanding of corporate exploitation that may baffle younger readers. As in the first two volumes, there are many characters, not all of whom have developed personalities or motives. A contrived and loose-ended plot element is the appearance of tiger-trainer Mabel Stark as Charlie's aunt and as Rafi's biological mother. Otherwise, the trilogy wraps up neatly, although too abruptly, with the Corporacy overthrown and the lions freed. The popularity of the first two "Lionboy" books will ensure demand for the third installment. Deelen's illustrations are as whimsical and as detailed as in the first two volumes.-Wendi Hoffenberg, Yonkers Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Reunited at the end of the previous volume, Charlie and his parents are quickly separated again after he is kidnapped and taken to the Caribbean. There, helped by a cat and a chameleon, Charlie works to bring down the evil Corporacy. Filled with enough zany adventures to thrill fans of the first books, the novel wraps up the tale satisfactorily. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. Charlie the Catspeaker finally faces down the insidious Corporacy and its henchmen in this conclusion to the Lionboy trilogy, which sustains and amplifies the previous books' socially enlightened tones. Half-Ghanaian Charlie contemplates the horrific history of slavery during a second kidnapping episode that creepily retraces the Middle Passage and ends in the Corporacy's Caribbean headquarters. While there, he finds he has become an unwilling subject of genetic research conducted by brainwashed automatons. Charlie's former acquaintances, lions included, launch a rescue mission headed by his scientist parents, while resourceful Charlie musters help from his ever-growing fan club of animals. The unedited whimsy (there's even an oddly upbeat cameo by Fidel Castro) and idealized characterizations aren't for everyone, but followers of the trilogy will revel in the Dickensian finale, awhirl with revelations, reunions, and resolutions. The knowledge that the novel was written with the help of an adolescent (Zizou Corder is a pseudonym for a British mother-daughter team) should deepen readers' satisfaction. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2005 Booklist