Module 3: The Lion and the Mouse

Summary

Jerry Pinkney's The Lion and the Mouse is a picture book that lets the pictures tell the story. It is the retelling of one of Aesop's best know tales, one that illustrates even the smallest of us can help the biggest.  Pinkney fills this book with watercolor and pencil paintings that catch even the tiniest of details, each page capturing the beauty of the African savanna setting.  A closer look at the paintings reveals that each page shows action.  The mouse perched on a rock, peering at the landscape, scampering away from the predator owl, mistakenly sitting on the well camouflaged tail of the lion who is laying in the tall, brown and blond grass.  The lion holds the mouse by the tail, curiously looking at him. Why doesn't the lion eat him?  This is where children will start to ask questions, and the wonderful discussions begin.  The tale continues to unfold, and the mouse has the opportunity to help save the lion.  Pinkney has provided us with a book that is visually engaging and masterful, and has retold a story that teaches us about the value of helping one another.

Pinkney, J. (2009). The lion and the mouse. New York. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Impressions

I had not looked at this book in many years, and I feel like I've found a lost treasure.  I have an entirely new respect and admiration for Pinkney's art and storytelling.  He honors this classic tale by giving his art meticulous detail and by matching key parts of the story with pictures that help the reader understand the events.  That is not to say, however, that he spells out everything for the reader.  The reader must make a lot of inferences from page to page, and that's why this is perfectly suited for older readers to share with younger readers. I'd like to mention also, that Pinkney gives these creatures some wonderful expressions, using their eyes especially as a window into their thoughts.  

Professional Review

The art of Jerry Pinkney's new picture book is commanding enough to do without the author's name or even the title on the front cover.  A jacket with no words at all?  It's been done before, but not often--probably most notably with Fred Marcellino's "Puss in Boots" (1990), which won a Caldecott Honor.  That cover featured a big cat, too, but here Pinkney gives us a lion's head with a magnificent mane, filling the entire frame.  The Sun King demeanor is somewhat diminished by the uneasy glance the lion is casting stage right, toward the back cover, where a mouse looks up with a question in its eye.  Which creature will be the hero of the tale within?

This is Pinkney's second try at "The Lion and the Mouse," the first being a brief entry in his "Aesop's Fables" of almost 20 years ago.  But that first pair were only supporting players to Aesop's text, 200 or so words plus a moral:  "Even the strongest can sometimes use the help of the smallest."  The new book has only seven distinct words, all sound effects--an owl, stalking the mouse, "whooo" and "screeeech"; the mouse, "scratch" and "squeak."  Providing the plot is the "putt-putt-putt" of the jeep bearing humans into the Serengeti landscape (a note says).

And you don't even need the sounds to see exactly what's going on. Wordless picture books require great cunning not only to provide a recognizable pantomime but also to lead readers from one scene to the next:  how do you know when to turn the page when there are no words to pull you forward?  Pinkney's story begins with a mouse pausing alertly in--what is this?--a big paw print in the sandy ground, one of a set tracking across the title-page spread.  We turn the page, dawn is (beautifully) breaking, the mouse is poised, apparently listening....Good thing there is a hole in that fallen tree on the far right, because on the next page the mouse barely dives in when the owl swoops.  The mouse moves on, coming to rest on--"Is that a snake?" asked the 4-year-old I was sharing the book with.  Pinkney's sly use of nature's camouflage causes us to look more closely.  Nope:  it was a tail, then a furry back, and before you know it the lion has the mouse by its tail, his "GRRR" seeming more puzzled than threatening, the mouse's squeak an "Oops!"

Winner of five Caldecott Honors, Pinkney has always seemed happier drawing animals than people.  Look, in his 2007 retelling, at his studied Little Red Riding Hood next to his lively Wolf.  His beasts are not humans in disguise; while both the lion and the mouse have emotions and intelligence in their eyes, they are animal in nature.  We don't know why the lion lets the mouse go free or why the mouse nibbles the lion out of the net planted by the men (poachers? wardens?) from the jeep.  But it's actions in this case that count.  That's the moral of the story (Sutton, 2009).

Sutton, R. (2009, November 5). Grrr!!! oops! [Review of the book The Lion and the Mouse, by J. Pinkney]. New York Times, BR15. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/books/review/Sutton-t.html

Library Uses

This book would provide an wonderful introduction to a lesson on inferencing.  The pictures are detailed enough to provide insight in to the character's feelings, traits, and actions.  It takes careful attention to the pictures to pull out the details, which if modeled by the librarian, gives students an example of the value of carefully looking for detail in order to better understand a story.  This book can also prompt a lesson on fables and their purpose. This could easily lend itself to lessons on theme, plot, and character traits.