No other book can give you the feel of Africa like this one can.

    Martini's husband, head keeper of the Lion House at the Bronx Zoo, brought her a new-born lion cub and asked her to save its life. A year or so later three tiger cubs in need of a foster mother's care found refuge in the Martinis' small apartment in the Bronx. A black leopard baby followed--and Mrs. Martini was launched upon a career that was hugely to her liking. My Zoo Family is the story of the quite extraordinary relationship between Mrs. Martini and the dozens of animals she has helped to rear: lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, gorillas, marmosets, deer and many, many more. Seen through her fond eyes, each one is a personality, as individual and fascinating as the members of any more conventional family: quick-witted Bagheera, the black leopard; Ugly, the melancholy howler monkey who required that everyone mourn with him; the clownish lion Zambezi; gentle Dolly, the deer, so affectionate and inquisitive; and lovely Dacca, one of the original tiger cubs who grew to superb maturity and regularly produces offspring which she brings to Mrs. Martini for her blessing. But although this is a story first--a chronicle of personal adventure and achievement in an odd profession--it is also a valuable footnote to scientific inquiry. For Mrs. Martini has demonstrated that even the wildest creatures, judged untamable, will respond to kindness and trust. Largely through her efforts there has been established at the Bronx Zoo a nursery which every year saves the lives of the young and valuable animals. It has been a wonderful laboratory, and the things she has observed of animal behavior and psychology, the problems of rearing wild animals in captivity, make absorbing reading.The book also contains some 50 photographs of the Martinis working with the animals, spread on four pages together in four different places in the book.

    She went also to Northern Nigeria, "the mysterious ebony world of Black Africa"; Lagos with its juju; the Gold Coast; Sierra Leone, Gambia, French Senegal and the "fantastic and perilous" Ivory Coast."