Friday 18 August 2023

Caring for Your Lion

Caring for Your Lion by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Troy Cummings (Union Square Kids) PB 9781454949244

What happens when a little boy expects an itty-bitty kitty . . . but a lion is delivered to his doorstep instead? Caring for a lion is hard work, but could the king of the jungle end up being the purrrrr-fect pet? 

The front fly pages show a brown-faced boy checking his calendar in expectation of a kitten while the other page shows through the window a man from a pet delivery van wheeling out a very large parcel. When the boy goes outdoors, he finds a crate with the message that the pet store has run out of kittens, but adds ‘Luckily, a lion is practically the same thing!’ It also provides a list of instructions. First is to take a deep breath. Then carefully open the crate. The boy does this and discovers a smiling lion starting at him.

From then on, the text is taken up with instructions for caring for his new pet. These include ordering ten large pizzas to feed his lion, even potty training it! He then must find a space for the lion to play: the illustration shows the lion interrupting a soccer game and chasing after the ball. All together there are 14 instructions, the final one being ‘Realise your lion is the purrrr-fect pet for you’ which is accompanied by an illustration of the boy and his lion curled up in bed together.

The illustrations are all bright and eye-catching with lots of details. This book is likely to be of most interest to readers aged 7+ years.

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