Counting lions: portraits from the wild by Katie Cotton

Ill. by Stephen Walton. Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2015. ISBN 9781847807212
(Age: all) Recommended. The cover art of this large format picture book is quite striking as the large head of a lion stares out at the reader. Illustrated in charcoal, every feature of this magnificent creature is beautifully drawn with whiskers and mane almost moving. Virginia McKenna, famous for rearing Elsa, provides the foreword to this book, speaking of the wonderful drawings of the animals but also of their declining numbers in the real world which is part of the reason for it being a counting book from one to ten. As the reader turns each page another animal is highlighted, accompanied by words of observation in bold orange text, which fades somewhat to explain the threatened nature of these species. Throughout, the astounding drawings dominate each double page spread. To close the book Katie Cotton has added a paragraph of useful information about each of the animals, followed by notes and further reading. This is a very special book to be shared by any age group.
Julie Wells