Take the Scary Away: When Lions Roar by Robie Harris and Chris Raschka

WHEN LIGHTNING CRACKS!
WHEN THUNDER BOOMS!

And when a screaming monkey or a roaring lion suddenly turn a jolly visit to the zoo into a scary scenario, things can fall apart fast.

Small children can be mercurial--enthralled with novelty one moment and melting down with fright in the next--all from a suddenly scary stimulus, like a yelling daddy or a roaring lion, or, as could happen any day now, a big sister trying out her new witch mask.

Author Robie Harris and Caldecott artist Chris Raschka turn their considerable talents to dealing with the suddenly scary. Their remedy is to turn attention to something slow-moving and emotionally neutral, like ants crawling along in a row or a sleepy puppy.

SCARY! GO AWAY!

Illustrator Chris Raschka uses his loose and sloshy brush strokes and relaxed narrator's body language to put things into perspective in Harris' When Lions Roar (Orchard Books, 2013), which offers kids a quick lesson in turning off the frightful and muting their own reactions to the suddenly scary events--barking dogs, fire truck sirens, and all the vivid sights and sounds of daily life. "Scary happens," says School Library Journal. "You deal with it, and then you move on: a good lesson."