The Lion and the Mouse book review

Bibliography

Pinkney, J. 2009. The Lion & The Mouse. New York, NY: Little, Brown Young Readers. ISBN 9780316013567

Plot Summary
In this mainly wordless picture book, the beautiful artistry of Pinkney retells Aesop’s fable of The Lion and the Mouse. In the beginning, a mouse hides from an owl who is ready to snatch its prey. As the mouse is moving away, the mouse finds itself waking a lion up, which upsets him. The mouse is terrified; however, the lion sets it free. As the story continues, hunters set a trap and the lion is caught. The lion lets out a big roar and the mouse sets off to find the lion. As the mouse nibbles on the rope, the lion is set free, and the two share a look before the mouse is off to its family of mice.

Critical Analysis
While the lack of text allows the reader to interpret the message of Aesop's fable in their own their own words, the focus on the illustrations also allows the reader to discover new lessons embedded within the book’s images.

For example, one moral lesson that can be interpreted in the images is that not all animals act as presumed. In this case, the lion, which is deemed as being a killer to most animals, is constantly surrounded by other animals throughout the story. The illustrations show butterflies, ants, dragonflies, monkeys, giraffes, elephants, toads, and birds near the lion. Therefore, while the main message of the fable is clear, the focus of the illustrations allows the reader to conjure up different interpretations of the story.

Review Excerpt(s)

• 2010 Caldecott Medal Winner
• Starred review in Publisher’s Weekly: “Pinkney has no need for words; his art speaks eloquently for itself” (July 27, 2009). 

Connections

• This book would be great to use for non-readers.
• Beginner readers will learn to use the illustrations in a book to understand what is happening in the story. 
• You can use this wordless book and compare it to another Lion and the Mouse book that comes with text.
• This story can be used in a classroom setting. Students can predict or infer what they think is happening in the story based on the illustrations. 
• Along with the previous lesson idea, this would be a great lesson to do with English Learners and native English speakers. Students can be partnered up and speak with one another on what is happening in the story which would help the English Learners.