We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,882,732.94 | Books Available: 684,503 | Members Online: 137

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna

Facing the Lion Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna
Author: Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton

After opening with a dramatic chapter about Lekuton's first encounter with a lion, the books covers his life from birth, through his early life as a cattle herder (starting at about age 5), his mischievousness, the way of life in the village (there was a nasty guy called the Pinching Man, who would punish kids if they were bad), school (includin... more »g dealing with bullies), initiation, his time at boarding school, and his journey to America to go to college (he was so worried about not eating the right way that he went without food for four days. His first meal in the U.S. was at McDonalds. He still loves the place.) The books ends with a chapter about going home to his mother and the sense of being at home in two very different worlds. Here are a few selections from the book: During the middle of the night, I woke to this huge sound-like rain, but not really like rain. I looked up. The starlight was gone, clouds were everywhere, and there was a light drizzle falling. But that wasn't the sound. The sound was all of the cows starting to pee. All of them, in every direction. And that is the sign of a lion. A hyena doesn't make them do that. An elephant doesn't make them do that. A person doesn't. Only the lion. We knew right away that a lion was about to attack us. *** They tried every trick [to get him to nurse]. They tried offering me cows: Our people believe even an infant understands about the cattle. "Take that cow!" my father said. "I'll give you that cow! And I'll give you that other one, too, if you breastfeed!" But I didn't listen. *** Cows are our way of life. They give us milk and blood and sometimes meat to eat and hides to wear. They're our wealth: We don't have money; we have cows. The more cows somebody has, the wealthier he is. My mother has lived her whole life in a hut made of sticks and mud, and you could put everything she owns on the seat of a chair. She lives entirely on the cow. For her, there's something wrong with someone who doesn't have cows. It's just not civilized. *** The hyena is greedy. Once, when Lmatarion [his brother] was about 14, he fell asleep under a tree. He woke to the sound of one of the smaller cows in the herd being attacked by a hyena. So he took his spear and went after the hyena-followed it, chased it down, and when he got close enough, speared it right in the stomach. Now the hyena had a bad wound, but it kept running, and as it ran, some of its insides fell out. When the hyena turned around, it saw its guts on the ground and thought, Food. It didn't know that it was its own flesh. It just started eating. That's how greedy the hyena is. *** That day we played for too long-climbing trees and seeing who could throw his stick or his spear the farthest. While we were playing, my cows wandered. I didn't notice until we were finished. Then I looked and I didn't see them. All the other boys' cows were there. I was the only one who was missing his cows. I started tracking them, and pretty soon I found the herd. But five of the cows were still missing. Now I knew I was in big trouble. First of all, I'd lost the cows. Second, when my family asked me, "Where did you lose the cows?" I'd have to give them the true location, and they'd know I did not take them where I was supposed to take them. And now it was getting late. *** The hard thing is, while the ceremony is going on you're not allowed to move your body an inch. You can't twitch your eye, move your mouth. Even your fingernails have to stay absolutely still. There were three people there to support me. I sat on a skin on the ground with my legs spread out, and one man held my back up strong. The other two men gently held my legs steady. Not everything was gentle, though. My other mother [his father's other wife] was there with a club. My other mother loved me to pieces, but she stood ready to clobber me if I moved. That was her job, to make sure I wasn't a coward. My mom was there, too, but she's not as tough as my other mother. And the rest of my family was all around me, to show solidarity, and to make sure I didn't embarrass them. *** There were a lot of very wealthy kids at Kabarak [the boarding school]. There were some poorer kids too, but even they had some Western, urban ways about them. They'd lived in the city; they spoke incredible English; they had television at home. And there I was-I didn't even know what a television was. I'd never seen one in my life! What I knew about was cows, so we didn't have a lot in common. When I talked about cattle, it was like "What are you talking about?" They just laughed at me. It was culture shock in my own country. *** I took a truck down there [to his college interview in Nairobi]. It was a cattle truck. I had to stand inside with the cows, and I had to help out. That's how it worked-you paid the driver a little money, but you also had to help out with the cows. The truck took forever, and the cows kept falling down. I helped pick them up. Sometimes they didn't want to get up-they're so stubborn. The only sure way to get a cow to stand is to take a piece of rubber and tie it over its nose and mouth. When it realizes that it can't breathe, it gets up. So that's how I got to Nairobi. I was a wreck by the time I got there: 330 miles, two days, standing in the truck with the cows going to the bathroom on my shoes, on my clothes. You can imagine how strong I smelled. That's how I had my interview: smelling of cows.

ISBN-13: 9780792283287
ISBN-10: 0792283287
Publication Date: 1/1/2005
Pages: 144
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Read All 1 Book Reviews of "Facing the Lion Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna"

Genres:

Children's Books >> People & Places >> Biographies >> Multicultural
Children's Books >> People & Places >> Explore the World >> Africa
Teen & Young Adult

Back to the Top ↑

Search - Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna

Loading...