Book Review: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Bibliography: 
Pinkney, Jerry. (2009). The Lion and the Mouse. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9870316013567.

Plot Summary: 
The story begins with a mouse escaping an owl, but then ending up atop a resting lion. The lion growls at the mouse, but lets her go. The lion is captured by a net that poachers put out. The mouse hears the cries of the lion and gnaws the net away to set the lion free. The mouse takes a piece of the net back to her mice babies to see.

Critical Analysis: 
This specific rendition of The Lion and the Mouse is beautifully wordless. The illustrations are thoughtful and detailed. The illustrations seem to be done with watercolors and pencils. The front cover of the book is a picture of the lion, no words. Throughout the traditional tale you see little details like the whiskers of the animals, each blade of grass and/or other animals in the jungle (butterflies, ants, baby cubs). I would like to note one special illustration where the mouse goes to the nest and her family of sweaking babies, and the lion is in the background. I think this illustration brings light to the good deed of the lion.

The entire story is very will understood through the use of illustrations without words. The several words in the book are merely sweaks and growls (animals noises). There are several  times in the book where the illustrator uses frames to highlight action. For example, the mouse gnawing the rope the lion is caught in. This helped focus the reader on certain aspects of the illustrations instead of those special details going unnoticed.

Story wise, this traditional tale does an excellent job of showing the moral of the fable. The kind deeds of the mighty lion towards the small mouse were rewarded. It does a great job of showing students that kind deeds may go unnoticed at first, but in the long run they are beneficial! Overall this is a great book to share with students at any age.


Awards Won: 
2010 Horn Book Awards Honor Book - Boston Globe
2010 Best Illustrated Books - New York Times
2010 Book of the Year Winner, New Picture Book - Indies Choice
2010 Randolph Caldecott Medal - American Library Association
Review excerpt from the School Library Journal: "The Lion and the Mouse takes a classic Aesop tale and spins it into wordless picture book gold. A must have, and a must purchase." 


Connections: 
--Use the book to begin a lesson about kindness
--Unit study of Jerry Pinkney (other books include Sunday Outing, Pretend You're a Cat, Turtle in July and Noah's Ark. For an exhaustive list see http://www.jerrypinkneystudio.com/frameset.html)  
--Use the illustrations to discuss texture and details with older art students
--Use this book with other traditional tales (adaptations) by Jerry Pinkney (Examples include Three Kittens, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Red Hen)
--Use the book to start learning about animal sounds (squeak, roar, whoowhoo)
--Begin a lesson on storytelling or improvisation using the book as their inspiration

School Library Journal. "Review of the Day" Review of the Day: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney. School Library Journal, July 20, 2009. http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2009/07/20/review-of-the-day-the-lion-and-the-mouse-by-jerry-pinkney/