The remarkable true story of a family who move into a rundown zoo–already a BBC documentary miniseries and excerpted in The Guardian.

In the market for a house and an adventure, Benjamin Mee moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. His friends and colleagues thought he was crazy.

But in 2006, Mee and his wife with their two children, his brother, and his 76-year-old mother moved into the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Their extended family now included: Solomon, an African lion and scourge of the local golf course; Zak, the rickety Alpha wolf, a broadly benevolent dictator clinging to power; Ronnie, a Brazilian tapir, easily capable of killing a man, but hopelessly soppy; and Sovereign, a jaguar and would-be ninja, who has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it.

Nothing was easy, given the family’s lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy. We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances.

There was some really interesting parts of this book. In parts, I felt it lost me a bit but I kept going through that as it was worth the effort. It is very interesting to find out all the behind the scenes stuff to running a zoo. The personal story was good also but I felt it could have been structured a bit better.

Taking this to the February meeting at the Joshua Cafe.

Nabbed at BC get together~

I found it quite the interesting read about this family venture. The tale was told in somewhat of a random order, but otherwise it was well written.

Thanks for the interesting read!

Left with friend to pass on for me at the next Calgary BC meet up

As Eri-Cherry can't make May's meeting, she passed me some books to take to the meeting when I saw her in April. Turns out the my name is on the list to read them so I guess they will stay with me for a bit.

After reading this I want to buy a zoo, just think of all the wonderful fun adventures you could have! Perhaps not but it was fun to read about someone who did just that. I love zoo's and after reading about more of the behind the scenes stuff I do have more appreciation for all the work that goes into running a zoo. Now to add visiting this zoo to my bucket list.

Taking this to January's BookCrossing meeting.

Are you in the Calgary area and interested in meeting up with other Calgary BookCrossers? Please check out our facebook group, "BookCrossing Calgary" for details on how. Meeting are held on the second Saturday of every month starting at 11am. Location is unknown, please PM me for information. New Crossers are always welcome.

Passed to me at the January meet-up of Calgary BookCrossers. To be added to Mnt. TBR.

From a 50,000 ft. view, I liked the story - but it was just so mired down with the financial wrangling and internal politics.

The book weighed heavily on Katherine's cancer and I really had a hard time getting motivated to keep reading. It felt more like reading Benjamin's diary, not a well laid out story. His thoughts and feelings about his children were barely expressed.

It was satisfying to read the Wiki article about how far the Dartmoor Zoological Park has come since this book was written:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmoor_Zoological_Park

Taking to the July Meet-up of Calgary BookCrossers, to find a new reader.

Picked up at today's bookcrossing meetup.

Got half way through it and gave up - got bored with it. Passing it along at the next bookcrossing meetup.

Left this book on a bookshelf in the Breakfast room, after finding a book there that I wanted to take.