Haus-hold Picture Book Review: Watch Out for the Lion!

At least, we think it's a lion...

As a child, my younger sister was a worrier. We grew up in the time before GPS, so heaven forbid one of my parents ever said the words "I think we are lost" while driving the backroads of rural Connecticut... she would worry enough for all of us.

We now know that my sister suffered from anxiety, as many children and adults do. When faced with the unknown, it can be all too easy to catastrophize and panic. How many of us would have benefitted from a book meant to help us deal with our anxiety as a child? My sister and I both would have.

For today's children, there's Watch out for the Lion! written by Brooke Hartman and illustrated by Anna Süßbauer. This book does a fantastic job of conveying a deeper, universal message with delightful humor, and doing so in such a way that the reader doesn't even realize they're being taught a valuable life lesson.

This book was fun to read out loud, expressively, in a silly voice with lots of shouting and whispering and everything in between.

Synopsis

Inside the pages of the book lurks a scary lion. It has a bristly tail, clashing claws, twitchy ears, and fearsome fangs! Kids who do not want to get eaten should probably not read this book. Trust the narrator! Even though the narrator hasn't seen the whole lion all at once. It's still definitely a lion in there. Not another animal. Nope...

...right?

My Big Kid’s Honest Review:

What my Kids Loved: The little one is too little to "get it", but he loved the colors and the pictures and laughing along with us. He's 2.5, so getting him to sit still for a whole book at this point is a win. My big kid loved that the book was written in 2nd person perspective and enjoyed feeling like the narrator was speaking directly to him. He realized pretty quickly that the narrator was feeling nervous about the possibility of a lion, and loved all the little surprises that popped up throughout the book. I won't say specifics so that you and your family can enjoy them too!

What I Loved: As a mom, I love books that allow me to giggle and be silly with my kids. This book was fun to read out loud, expressively, in a silly voice with lots of shouting and whispering and everything in between. We had a great time enjoying this book together.

As a writer, I love the carefully planned page turns and narrator's nervous yet also confident tone. It reminded me of Brian Gehrlein's The Book of Rules and Chris Harris' If You Laugh, I'm Starting This Book Over. If you enjoy writing humor, this would be a great book to study as a mentor text.

My favorite lines:

You're really in a pickle now, kid.

I hope you like snacks, because you're about to be one.

Lion lunch. A child cheeseburger. Rugrat ravioli.

Final thoughts: Every time the narrator feels certain we are about to turn the page and be attacked by a ferocious lion, we encounter something unexpected. Each surprising page turn culminates in a finale that leaves the reader thinking, maybe things aren't always as scary as they seem. An excellent message for kiddos who fall to pieces when their parents say, "I think we are lost."

You can request Watch Out for the Lion! from your local library, or purchase from retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers- but don't forget to check your local independent bookstore first!