Toni Morrison, author of
Beloved,
Sula, and
Song of Solomon, teams up with her son, Slade, to recreate
this classic Aesop’s fable. In the traditional story, a mighty lion gets a thorn stuck in its paw and must put pride aside and allow a weak little mouse remove it. The Morrison version offers animals that talk in rhythmic verse and illustrations in comic-strip panels. The “baddest lion in the land” struts around the savannah roaring about how powerful he is to the tiger, the hyena, the
elephant, and the monkey…until he gets a thorn stuck in its hind paw. Now the not-so-cocky lion must beg for help. The tiger, hyena, elephant, and monkey all refuse, giving him excuses that are pretty hilarious (“My wife is calling. My mother is sick. My roof is falling. I have fruit to pick.”). They leave the poor lion lying in the dirt. Then a tiny mouse squeaks up with an offer to help IF the lion promises not to eat him afterwards. The lion quickly agrees to be “friends forever.” Here authors Morrison give the story a twist; the next day the mouse wakes up feeling like he has become powerful and struts around like HE is the “baddest lion in the land.” Of course the tiger, hyena, elephant, and monkey all think this is absolutely ridiculous and laugh at the mouse. Morrison concludes the story with a moral in true Aesop fashion. An enjoyable adaptation, but beginning readers may find the cursive style font chosen by the publisher somewhat tough to read.
About the Authors Toni Morrison, winner of a Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize for Literature, teaches at Princeton University. Slade Morrison, a painter by profession, has co-authored other books with his mother –
The Book of Mean People (2002), Who’s Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? and
Who’s Got Game? Poppy or the Snake? Morrison won a Grammy in 2008 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children - "Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? The Lion or the Mouse? Poppy or the Snake?"