This lends itself perfectly to the children’s own illustrations of other fables, the most well-known probably being the Hare and the Tortoise.

This is a fabulous addition to units on fables, African wildlife or even perspective and scale. While not a group read-aloud, many children will revel in this visual story-telling – a tale of karma, and even the tiniest of kind acts will somehow have their reward. I appreciate that while Pinkney has given sweet character to the facial expressions of lion and mouse in particular, he has gone for a realistic look. Each animal and plant has been thoroughly researched and rendered in beautiful detail. Isn’t that cover magical? This is a masterpiece of paintings of African flora and fauna. The publication page tells us that, “The full-color artwork for this book has been prepared using pencil, watercolor, and colored pencils on paper.” The beautiful endpapers depict the lion and his mate and cubs prowling the savannah with the mouse and her family safely perched on the lion’s back. In her mouth she leaves with one of the knots of rope, which she gives her family of tiny babies at home in their nest to play with. Our little mouse comes to the lion’s rescue, and she nibbles the ropes until they give way and the lion is freed. Before he knows it the lion is caught and bound in thick ropes, high above the ground. Unfortunately the lion’s progress is short-lived as it falls prey to poachers and their wicked traps. A wee small mouse escapes the claws of a hungry owl, only to find herself trapped within the paw of a huge lion. The scene- The African Serengeti of Tanzania and Kenya. While the book does begin with an owl hooting, and we have occasional onomatopoeic animal sounds, this is an almost wordless rendition of one of Aesop’s most well-known fables.

The lion and the mouse picture book