I read the book Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan. It was published by a publishing company called, Harper Trophy. The publishing date of the book is the year 1995. There are 194 pages in the book, Listening for Lions. The book is written in first person, so while you are reading it you feel like YOU are Rachel. The settings of the book are Africa and England. A couple of the conflicts in the book are the influenza in Africa, Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard trying to convince Rachel to go to England as their “daughter” because their real daughter, Valerie, died from the influenza, and Rachel lying to Grandfather about who she truly was. Rachel pretended to be his granddaughter and when she spoke to him about “Rachel” she was saying that Rachel was her friend, an telling stories about Kikuyu and the African shambas, only saying what she “heard” from Rachel. The two main characters are Rachel and Grandfather. Rachel’s character traits are respectful and caring. She is respectful because she respects her elders, and her parents. She is caring because when she meets Grandfather she doesn’t want to hurt his feeling by telling him the truth. Grandfather is unforgiving and sweet. Grandfather is unforgiving because he hasn’t and never will forgive his son for all the misery he has caused, and he is sweet because even when he finds out that Rachel is really Rachel he adopts her. I rated the book Listening for Lions 4 stars. I really enjoyed Listening for Lions. While I was reading it, I felt like everything in the book came alive. I found it interesting to hear both sides of the two missionaries. I liked how Rachel’s parents were missionaries that loved Africa and that cared so much about it and I liked to hear what the Pritchards, the snobby English missionaries, have to say about Africa. The reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because I thought the ending could have been better, or the book could have been a bit longer explaining how the hospital came out to be in the end.
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