Review - Library Lion

For those of you with small children, you might have read Library Lion. For those of you who have small children but who haven't read it, well, that's why I'm here. I give you my professional opinion on a story book - professional as a bookseller who's recently been put in charge of Story Time in our shop (Side note: it's like a promotion, only I don't get paid more.)

So... any excuse to read a picture book, then?
Alter-egos are a silly joke of mine, forget about this question. The book was read for work, out loud, to small children. They seemed to enjoy it. I did not. Not the book, the reading out loud of it. Nerves. Meh... moving on...

Is the book recommended for small children, then?
Very much so! And the parents enjoyed it, too, from what I could tell. I personally thought it was a great little story, with a good set of morals, a little bit of humour and a lovely story to go along with it. The kids seemed to like the book, when they were paying attention - I think kids paid better attention afterwards because they'd settled down a little bit, so I'd recommend the book for night-time more than anything else, when they might be tired.

What were the pictures like? You said it was a picture book!
Ah the pictures... they were very pretty. Lots of attention to detail to get the lion looking just right, to make the characters look vivid and real, while still maintaining the illusion that cartoons are capable of. Fantastic, easy on the eye drawings that complimented the story in a lovely way.

And the moral behind the story..?
Rules. The book is all about rules. They have a big importance in the book, controlling the lion in a proper, friendly way - stopping him from roaring in the library - while also showing that rules can be broken if a friend is in need, for example. What more could a parent ask for, than a book about the importance of keeping rules, and acknowledging when they should be broken? (and the only times when they should be broken!)