Everybody Roar!

Today (August 10th) is World Lion Day.  The perfect day to go on safari!  But I'm not going to do that.  For several reasons.  One being that I might actually meet a lion.  And not one of the friendly ones from the following picture books.  And I don't want to be eaten.  So I will get my daily fix of all things lion from books.

Dandelion by Don Freeman

One day Dandelion the lion gets invited to a Tea and Taffy party by his friend, Jennifer Giraffe.  The invitation say to 'come as you are'.  But Dandelion does not follow directions and goes out and buys a new outfit, and gets his hair and nails done.  He wants to look fancy for the party.  But when he shows up he looks so fancy that Jennifer doesn't recognize him and won't let him in.  Dandelion learns that he should not try to be someone he is not.  (Although I hope that if I ever decide to get out of my jeans for a day and wear a dress my friends would still recognize me.  So maybe that says something about Jennifer too.)  It is a cute story about being happy with who you are.  I like the illustrations but the only color in the book is yellow.  I would have liked some more color.  I think kids will get a chuckle out of how Dandelion gets all dressed up but can't get into the party until it is all undone again.  It was first published in 1964 but it has held up well.

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

There is a lion in the library.  And since there are no rules against lions in the library he is allowed to stay as long as he follows all the rules.  He loves story time and learns to help the librarian in all sorts of ways.  But one day the lion has to break the rules to help his friend.  The illustrations are great.  The lion is very expressive and somehow the softer tones seem to fit the setting.  The story is cute.  At first everyone is a little nervous to have a lion in the library but he soon becomes everyone's friend and a very special helper to the librarian.  Then one day the lion has to break the rules to help his friend, knowing he will never be able to come back if he does.  But his friend is more important and the lion does the right thing, even at a cost to himself.  And people learn that sometimes, if there is a very good reason, rules can be broken.  I loved watching the lion dust shelves with his tail, and lift kids so they could reach high shelves and I felt for him as he sat in the rain looking through the window wishing he could go back in.  He is a very endearing character with a lot of personality even though he never says a word.  I think everyone will fall in love with this library lion.