When my daughter was two, we enjoyed a nice afternoon at our local public library, but when it was time to go, she wanted to stay. You can imagine the scene: Suddenly, a typically quiet library erupts as a grinning young father clumsily carries his waving, screaming, and crying little one out the door. It was painful for everyone – for me, for the staff, for the customers and especially for her. She was still learning how to communicate and how to respond appropriately to feelings like disappointment, anger, and fear. When should we keep quiet and when should we roar? Four new books explore this question with the metaphorical help of big cats.
With Erika Meza BOLD AS A LION (Candlewick, 32 pp., $18.99, 3 to 7 years)we meet a young girl and her imaginary (yet real) friend: a friendly, cuddly and seemingly fearless lion. In countless challenging situations — talking to someone new, apologizing for the mess, lying in the dark before bed — he gives her a shot of courage. But one day at the playground, on top of a new “rocking-fast” slide, “high as the moon,” she freezes, and when she looks at her lion, she sees that he’s scared too. Then comes the revelation: “Maybe this is it Mine time to be brave.” Expressive, bold watercolor and ink drawings add excitement and joy to this tale of lion-sized fears.
The cat in Kirsten Hubbard’s DEAR STRAY (Nancy Paulsen Books, 32 pp., $18.99, 3 to 7 years) is a “sticky, tickly, prickly” kitten who was chosen from a local animal shelter by a girl who is sticky, ticklish, and prickly herself. She even hisses occasionally. The girl’s story in the first person takes the form of diary entries she addresses to the strays. The two are constant companions and mirror each other in their relationships with the rest of the family. Neither wants to sit still, held or loved in the traditional way. They cling to their big, troubled feelings. (The kitten visually transforms into a fierce tiger during more intense episodes of anger and sadness.) As time passes, these feelings are sorted and understood, and moments of harmony and connection ensue. Like the main characters, Susan Gal’s art is beautifully uncluttered, with lots of loose lines, brush strokes and vibrant areas of color – an apt representation of the often unbridled emotions of early childhood.
In HEDGE LION (Andersen Press, 32 pp., $18.99, 4 to 9 years)Robyn Wilson-Owen takes a different approach to depicting how a child can navigate new emotional terrain. Time and time again, when a “busy girl” named Ida passes a certain section of bushes on a certain street while running through her busy town with her mother and sister, she sees a hedge that resembles a lion. Or a lion that looks like a hedge. Ida’s lion—whom no one else sees—remains utterly still and silent, refusing to emulate or even acknowledge its own existence, despite her repeated urgings. (Afraid he might frighten someone as much as a lion, he insists he’s a hedgehog.) In the end, it’s a favorite book Ida shares with him that causes Hedge Lion to roar, at first with laughter. But the roar does not stop. Every feeling he’s suppressed – joy, sadness, anger – immediately comes out, causing the myriad bird and insect friends who had nested happily in his mane to flee. But only temporarily. (They knew all along he was a lion.) With a little encouragement and practice, Hedge teaches Lion that he can express his true self by “roaring before they get too big.” Wilson-Owen complements her somewhat surreal text with intricate, wobbly, exquisitely detailed line art and a clean, minimal color palette with lots of lemon and lion yellow.
At Allira Tee’s TIGER & CAT (Berbay, 40 pp., $17.99, 2 to 6 years), illustrated in soft pastels, an anthropomorphic tiger and domestic cat are the best of friends, despite their differences in size and (presumably) nature. They fly kites, dance and drink tea together. Then Tiger reluctantly tells Cat to go to Tiger Camp “however long it takes” to earn his stripes – the stripes that “make you a real tiger.” She protests that he already is a real tiger, but he leaves anyway and stays away for many months, during which the two miss each other terribly. In the end, Tiger realizes not only that he doesn’t want to be “wild,” but also that Cat was right: he doesn’t. to have to earn his stripes because he already has them.
Matthew Cordell, a Caldecott Medalist, is the most recent author of the picture book ‘Evergreen’, about a frightened squirrel. The third book in his early reader series, “Cornbread & Poppy,” will be released later this month.