Taking Care: The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc

LION WAS WORKING IN HIS GARDEN ONE DAY WHEN HE HEARD A SOUND.

Lion looks around and sees a fallen bird, with a broken wing.

"OH, YOU POOR LITTLE THING!

LET'S BANDAGE YOU UP!"

As Lion gently picks him up, he follows the bird's anguished gaze and see his flock vanishing over the horizon.

Lion reassures the bird that he will be welcome to stay over the winter in his warm safe house, and he keeps his promise.

Bird's wing heals, but he remains with Lion, and slowly Lion's lonely life changes as he shares it with his new companion. Tucked warm and safe in little nest inside Lion's woolly winter cap, Bird looks out as Lion ventures outside in the strange, wintry snowscape.  Lion takes him on his toboggan, where they whiz down hills or stop for a bit of ice fishing at the lake. At night they enjoy the warmth of the fireplace, Bird tucked snugly inside one of Lion's slippers, and spend the long evenings in quiet companionship. Lion realizes that winter is not so hard and long with a friend.

But as the winter passes into early spring, as snowdrops poke their buds through the melting snow, Bird seems to grow restless with the fireside. And one day, when they are outside, he perches on a limb and looks up to see a flight of birds heading north, and he knows what he must do.

HE LOOKS DOWN AT LION.

"YES," LION SAYS. "I KNOW."

Bird flies away with the flock, looking back, as on the ground Lion grows smaller and smaller in view behind him.

"SOMETIMES LIFE IS LIKE THAT," SAYS LION SOFTLY.

Lion is alone again. He is sad to be without Bird, but he still watches the sky, in hope that his friend will not forget him.

Marianne Dubuc's The Lion and the Bird (Enchanted Lion Books, 2014) is a gently told parable that touches on many of the qualities of relationships--caring, sharing, and finding closeness, but also giving the other the freedom to do what he must. Like the prodigal, of course, Bird returns when the cold winds begin to blow, to share Lion's cozy house for the winter as their friendship continues. Although there are deep meanings in this story, Dubuc's easy narrative, combining humor, loss, longing, and love and her nuanced, evocative drawings make it easy for young readers to sense these truths. "... a remarkably moving, and—considering it features two animals—deeply human story," says Publishers Weekly in their starred review.

For slightly older primary students, this one makes a great compare-and-contrast read aloud along with Sergio Ruzzier's similar A Letter for Leo.

Calling All Lions! Lion Lion by Miriam Bush

"LION!!!"

A boy steps out of his house and calls loudly, but when a real, full-grown lion answers his call, he looks very surprised! Clearly, this isn't the Lion he expected.

Lion says, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find Lion. What about YOU?" the boy answers.

"I am looking for lunch."

Coming from a lion, that sounds ominous. Trying to look unflustered, the boy looks around for lunch possibilities.

"Care for some grass?"

The Lion ventures into the grass, but a snapping turtle grabs his foot.

The Lion declares the grass too "snappy." Offered some mushrooms, he steps on a prickly hedgehog snacking on the 'shrooms and declines the offer as too splintery.

The berry bushes are stinky from some skunks who have been sampling the fruit. Flowers, maybe?

The Lion points out that a hummingbird has gotten there first.

"Feathers make me sneeze!"

Aha! Suddenly the boy's anxious look changes to a crafty one. Hmmm! He has a plan. If he can make the Lion sneeze....

AH--AHH--AHHH...
CHOO!

Miriam Busch's Lion, Lion (HarperCollins, 2014) has a surprise ending (with a happy MEW from the boy's rescued cat Lion) that close readers may have already figured out, involving feathers and the big red flashlight in the boy's back pocket.Illustrator Larry Day is in on the joke, of course, and offers visual clues that foreshadow the happy reunion, not to mention the little mouse on every page. (Note: No hummingbirds, skunks, hedgehogs, turtles--or cats-were harmed in the making of this story!)

The Bulletin for Children's Books call this one downright "Sendakian," and Kirkus says, "The grand joke comes at the end, when the clever boy forces the lion to sneeze, and there is another play on the same theme on the very last page. Sly, dark humor for little ones—at its best."

Fable Fare! Lion Vs. Rabbit by Alex Latimer

LION WAS MEAN TO EVERYONE.

Lion is the scourge of the savanna. the prankster of the plains, out to humiliate all the other animals, he even dares to play his dirty tricks on creatures faster and bigger than he is.

ONE AFTERNOON HE GAVE  BUFFALO A WEDGIE.

Something must be done, the animals agree, and they advertise an award for anyone who can put Lion in his place.

But none of the applicants--Baboon, Musk Ox, Giraffe, even Elephant--have the right stuff to lay it on Lion.

Finally, Rabbit applies.  Lion struts at the size of his new opponent.

"YOU'RE SMALL!  I WILL LET YOU CHOOSE THE CONTEST," SAYS LION.

"ALL RIGHT," SAYS RABBIT.

Rabbit challenges Lion to a marshmallow-eating contest. Lion downs three baskets, but Rabbit somehow manages to put away ten!

Lion whines that his stomach was feeling queasy, so Rabbit comes up with another challenge, a quiz show. Lion blanks out, and Rabbit offers two more trials--hopping, and painting. Lion predictably poops out at hopping, and loses the art competition when Rabbit reproduces a rabbit-eared Mona Lisa. Lion complains and offer excuses until Rabbit gives him the chance to choose the next contest, winner take all.

Lion chooses a race to the nearby snow capped mountain peak.

But despite Lion's considerable speed and endurance, Rabbit somehow seems to be always on the ledge just ahead of him. How does he DO it?

Alex Latimer's Lion vs Rabbit (Peachtree Publishing, 2014) offers up a tongue-in-cheek twist on the old fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare," with a modern emphasis on outwitting the local bully. Latimer's illustrations offer funny details (Buffalo in his whitie tighties, for example) and wryly foreshadow how Rabbit manages to outdo his rival, with teasing glimpses of the many assorted co-conspirator rabbits partially hidden on his pages, pointing up the role of the power of numbers as well as power of sly wit in doing in a bully. This one is both a beating-the-bully at his own game and a humorous new-fangled fractured fable for young readers.