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A review by tashrow
The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc, Claudia Zoe Bedrick
5.0
One day a lion discovers a hurt bird in his garden. He bandages the bird’s damaged wing, but then the rest of the bird’s flock flies away, migrating for the winter. So the lion takes the bird into his home. Throughout the winter, the bird and the lion spend each day together doing all sorts of things. And the lion notices that the winter doesn’t seem as cold with a friend along with him. Then spring arrives and the bird’s wing has mended, so the bird heads off to join its flock as they return for the warm weather. Lion is once again alone and now he misses his friend. Lion spends all summer alone, tending his garden. Then autumn comes again and Lion hopes to see his friend return, but will he?
Dubuc is a Canadian author who is internationally known. She has a decidedly European vibe to her work with its quietness and the message of larger things written in the small world she creates on the page. She cleverly shows the passing of the seasons using pages of white that allow space for the time to pass for the reader. The book is also a lovely riff on The Lion and the Mouse, except in this book the lion is the one doing the kindness for another creature and the payback of the kindness is more delicate in the form of friendship.
Dubuc’s art is exceptional. Her fine lines show both close-ups of the friends together and also vistas of the world they live in. There is a feeling of smallness, closeness and a limited world that Lion lives in. That contrasts with the bird leaving on migration and exiting this close world.
A noteworthy picture book, this new title by Dubuc is charming and warm. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Dubuc is a Canadian author who is internationally known. She has a decidedly European vibe to her work with its quietness and the message of larger things written in the small world she creates on the page. She cleverly shows the passing of the seasons using pages of white that allow space for the time to pass for the reader. The book is also a lovely riff on The Lion and the Mouse, except in this book the lion is the one doing the kindness for another creature and the payback of the kindness is more delicate in the form of friendship.
Dubuc’s art is exceptional. Her fine lines show both close-ups of the friends together and also vistas of the world they live in. There is a feeling of smallness, closeness and a limited world that Lion lives in. That contrasts with the bird leaving on migration and exiting this close world.
A noteworthy picture book, this new title by Dubuc is charming and warm. Appropriate for ages 3-5.