Elsa Has Cubs
A review of Living Free by Joy Adamson
By Julia A. Keirns
“Living Free” written by Joy Adamson is a continuation story of the book “Born Free” about a lion cub named Elsa who was raised by her human parents George and Joy Adamson in Kenya. This story “Living Free” continues the story of Elsa after she has been reintroduced to the wild and has cubs of her own. I highly recommend using both books as a project in school for children in middle school. These books are probably best for older children such as 5th grade and up, as they have a lot of words and are much longer than younger children can stay interested in. Living Free is considered a biography because it is written by a person who is telling about the life of a lion.
In the 1960’s it was not common for humans to successfully raise a wild animal cub and return it to the wild. This story captured the attention of the world. Caring about and saving wild animals was a new concept. Living Free continues the story of how successfully Elsa lived a natural life in the wild. The books sparked a new interest and love of nature. This book is a vivid, day-by-day account of the life of Elsa the lion from the time they released her into the wild, her finding of a mate, having cubs and raising them until they are one-year-old.
As children first read about Elsa the cub, they will develop a true interest in her life and want to see if she survives in the wild on her own. They will continue the story with this second book and learn about her life in the wild. As they become Jr. High age it would be good to teach them about the lives of George and Joy Adamson and how Joy was eventually murdered. After the books are read it could be followed up with the Documentary Movie “Elsa: The Lioness that Changed the World.”
Elsa became the first lioness successfully released back into the wild, the first to have contact after release, and the first known to have cubs. The Adamsons kept their distance from the cubs, getting close enough only to photograph them. After the book was written and published in 1960, it became a bestseller, spending 13 weeks at the top of The New York Times Best Seller list and nearly a year on the chart overall. After Elsa died, George and Joy Adamson separated. On 3 January 1980, in Shaba National Reserve in Kenya, Joy Adamson’s body was discovered by her assistant, Peter Morson. He mistakenly assumed she had been killed by a lion, and this was what was initially reported by the media. Police investigation found Adamson’s wounds were too sharp and bloodless to have been caused by an animal and concluded she had been murdered.
This book is not only considered a biography, it is also considered non-fiction. It is the true life story of one lioness and how she survived in the wild after being raised by humans.