NYTimes review
Why the Lion came to Town?
The lion/tiger stories that I from my childhood usually involve animals and morals (The Story of Bahula Cow ). By chance, if they have humans in them, its mostly in the cautionary tale vein ( An old tiger and greedy traveller).
But once children get involved, we see how kids are so enamored by animals and will do anything to have them for friends, like Annie with her puppy. What if the animal is a huge lion. Still it does not deter them. In this 'How to hide a Lion" story, Iris helps Lion by hiding her in the house. The illustrations and the one line text in each page move the story effortlessly. Sometimes Iris looks so small when compare to the lion, I couldnt help but think of the tiny mouse in the Aesop's fable of The Lion and the Mouse. And sometimes when they are playful and jumping on the bed, the lion looks amiable as a life size dog. My toddler enjoyed this book and asked for an encore reading. As the story goes on, when the Lion asks for his wish, we almost forget, why he came to the town.
Most of the time the Lion is sleeping in the story. We went to the zoo recently and found the Lion sleeping. This resonated with the actions of the Lion in the story.
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