Book review: 'Rise of the Lioness' is a wonderful book that teaches basic scientific terms while using the backdrop of an African wildlife reserve

I expected "Rise of the Lioness" to be a book about the lifestyle of a lion. I was totally wrong. Instead, "Rise of the Lioness" talks about restoring an almost destroyed habitat in Zambia.

The Liuwa Plain National Park housed lions, tsessebes, zebras, and jackals for years. But when fighting factions ran back and forth across its territory, killing many of the animals in the process, the area was only a desolate mirror of its former glory. While lions used to roam and rule the area, now only one lion was left. Many other animal populations had been nearly decimated and the plains were continuing to deteriorate.

Once the fighting was over, the Zambian government decided to attempt to rebuild the Liuwa Plain back to its previous numbers. This book, "Rise of the Lioness" talks about the attempts, failures, and eventual success, that was brought about through their efforts.

But "Rise of the Lioness" teaches much more than the rebuilding of Liuwa. Although it does focus on the story of this small area of Zambia, it explains terms like, "tertiary consumer," "trophic pyramid," "apex predator," "competitive release," and "migration." It also teaches why removing one kind of animal from a habitat can destroy the balance of life and throw other animals, and even plants, out of whack. For those educators who enjoy teaching scientific terms using immersion techniques, this book is a fabulous one; making scientific terms memorable because they are taught using the backdrop story of the fading lions of Liuwa.

"Rise of the Lioness" is a clean 56 page book that only briefly touches on the violence of the Angolan civil war. Although 4th grade children deeply interested in zoology, science, and geography may find this book interesting, I think the reading audience is more closer to that of a 6th grade level and higher. I don't usually pick up books like this, but even I found this book fascinating. I also appreciated the reminder of many scientific terms I had formerly forgotten.

Author Bradley Hague has worked with National Geographic for over a decade. He lives in Washington D.C. with his wife.