Lion is that you? by Moira Court

Kids and adults alike will love searching through the undergrowth in this beautifully presented book of the Australian bush. Layers of woodblock and screen prints gives a collage of detail for readers to peruse, picking out Australian fauna and flora as they search for the improbable lion in its midst. 

Building on the perennial myth of escaped circus animals living in the hills, Court has developed a charming rhyming tale asking children to identify Australian animals as they see and read of the attributes of the animal in question.

Readers will learn a great deal of information from this sparse text, and develop skills in predicting the rhyming word as well as building on their skills of observation in seeking out the range of plants and animals shown on each page. 

The opening page shows a circus driving away in the distance, two lions behind a Kangaroo Paw in the foreground. Could these be the forebears of the story of the lions in the hills?  Children will laugh with glee as they open the next pages, offered an Australian animal to compare with a lion. A Kangaroo, Bobtail, Echidna, Goanna, Quenda, Dugite and Redcap are show, making sure the readers know the difference between these animals and the lion they are searching for.  Kids and adults will laugh out loud as they read of the animals and note their traits as well as the environment in which each lives, depicted in the stunning illustrations. I loved the wallpaper like pages of West Australian wildflowers, the rocks the goanna stands upon, the echidna’s bristles and claws, the snake oiling its way through the yellow tufts of flowers and its patterned skin. I found something to look at more closely on every page and learnt of some different animals and flowers in the West. Teacher's notes are available.

Themes: Western Australia, Flora and fauna, Australian animals, Humour, Lions.

Fran Knight