BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pinkney, Jerry. 2009. THE
LION AND THE MOUSE. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316013560.
PLOT
SUMMARY
In this adaptation of THE LION AND THE MOUSE, a small mouse
escapes from an owl only to be caught by a lion. Surprisingly, the lion looks on the mouse
with wonder and then lets him go. Soon
after, the lion is caught in a poacher’s net and the mouse heroically scampers
in and frees the lion from the trap. Both creatures then return to their
families.
CRITICAL
ANALYSIS
I don’t know when I was last enraptured by a wordless book. I was hooked from the very first illustration
of the African savannah with a pride of lions at its center. From that moment
on, this tale proved to be an engaging and emotional adventure. I may have even
teared up in the scene where the lion was caught in the net and fearing he
would never return home to his cubs, but only because the illustrations are so
powerful.
The illustrations of this book are absolutely
spectacular. This is a good thing
because the illustrations in this book tell a profoundly moving story with help
from only a few well-placed animal sounds- onomatopoeia at its best. This wordless telling of this timeless fable
is the most gripping one I have ever seen.
As you turn the pages, you feel the movement of the animals as you travel
with them through this adventure.
Pinkney masterfully creates believable characters through
their facial expressions and body postures. The illustrations of the animals
show the emotion they are feeling: the wonder when the lion holds the mouse in
his paw, the trepidation of the mouse when she finds herself in the grasp of a
powerful predator, and the radiating, red fear when the lion is caught in the
trap. The blocked scenes of the mouse
running in to save the lion are exquisite. The sensation of a mouse boldly
scampering is felt and the lion’s pitiful “ROAR” grows and shrinks as it fills
the entire top of the page.
An added bonus of this adaptation is the insertion of
families. The book opens on the lion’s
family, and after the mouse is freed by the lion, it shows her running to a
nest of mouse babes. The story ends with
mama mouse delivering a piece of the poacher’s net to these squeaking
youngsters.
The lesson of this fable is successfully shown through both
characters. The kindness of these two
opposite creatures is cleverly shown through the vast difference in their
sizes. This fable shows us that physical
size does not matter, only the size of our heart.
AWARDS
AND REVIEWS
*Caldecott Medal Winner 2010
*2x2 Book List 2010
*Starred review School
Library Journal: "Pinkney's luminous art, rendered in watercolor
and colored pencil, suggests a natural harmony.... A classic tale from a
consummate artist."
*Starred review Kirkus
Reviews: "A nearly wordless
exploration of Aesop's fable of symbiotic mercy that is nothing short of
masterful... Unimpeachable.”
*Verily Magazine: "A
child will get lost in the illustrations and grow old with this beauty."
CONNECTIONS
*Let students write their
own telling of the fable using the pictures as a guide.
*Read Pinkney’s
traditional telling of this story in the collection Aesop’s Fables (2000) and compare the two tellings.
*Have students read other fables
by Pinkney to determine the common factors that make a fable.
Illustrations taken from: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+lion+and+the+mouse+pinkney&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW-eGZh6rWAhVF2oMKHeL4BZkQ_AUICigB&biw=1254&bih=527
No comments:
Post a Comment