The Library Lion | Michelle Knudsen

Everything about this charming picture book screams ‘classic’! Yet The Library Lion was only published in 2006.

This is a picture book for older readers (i.e. readers who can sit still for a longer period of time) as there is more text than you find in most picture books these days.

What follows is a very sweet tale of a lion trying to find a place to belong (a library), the adjustments he has to make to fit in with the rules of the library, the opposition he faces by some who already belong and think that he shouldn’t and the acceptance and understanding he eventually inspires in everybody.

The final few pages cause me to tear up every single time I read it!

The old fashioned style illustrations by Kevin Hawkes, the quaint, gentle story and the universal themes of belonging and acceptance all add up to a modern day classic in the making.

I love it and hope you do too!

_{Miss Merriweather, the head librarian, is very particular about rules in the library. No running allowed. And you must be quiet. But when a lion comes to the library one day, no one is sure what to do. There aren’t any rules about lions in the library. And, as it turns out, this lion seems very well suited to library visiting. His big feet are quiet on the library floor. He makes a comfy backrest for the children at story hour. And he never roars in the library, at least not anymore. But when something terrible happens, the lion quickly comes to the rescue in the only way he knows how. Michelle Knudsen’s disarming story, illustrated by the matchless Kevin Hawkes in an expressive timeless style, will win over even the most ardent of rule keepers.}