Thursday, March 31

A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals

A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals
Written and illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins

My rating: ★★★★½

ISBN: 978-1481448895
Publisher: Altheneum
Date of publication: March 15, 2016
Age: 4 - 8 years

Themes: animals, surprises

There once was a hungry lion, a penguin (Well he was just here…), a little calico kitten (I could have sworn I just saw him…), a brown mouse (Now wait a second…), a bunny with floppy ears and a bunny with un-floppy ears (Okay this is just getting ridiculous), a frog, a bat, a pig, a slightly bigger pig, a wooly sheep, a koala, a hen, and also a turtle. Hey! What’s going on here…

When Jon Klassen (of I Want My Hat Back fame) calls this book "so smart and so cute and so dark all at the same time" then you KNOW there's some sketchy things going on. I mean, I should've seen it coming, really. (Gall, this book is so hard to review without giving it all away). Basically, it's just my style: cheeky illustrations, several surprising twists, a dark humor, and something that I'd think twice about reading in my preschool storytime. I laughed, it's true, and there will be many a kids who laugh, too. And perhaps some concerned parents... I just have to recommend it. It's too funny not to!

Readalikes would definitely include I Want My Hat Back and This is Not My Hat, and even a bit of Mother Bruce. Oh and Carnivores, of course.

Find it at your library or on Amazon

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