The lion & the mouse

The lion & the mouse

By Jerry Pinkney

This book won the Caldecott Medal in 2010.

This is a wordless book. As the sun sets on the African savannah, a little mouse scurries across the lion’s footprints.

An owl spots her and swoops down to catch her. In her hurry, she leaps into a hole in a log and races out the other end before looking back to see if the owl is gone.

No owl is in sight, but she has accidently run up a lion’s tail in her fear and distraction. The lion is not pleased to have a mouse on his back. He grabs her and prepares to gulp her down. On second thought, since she is so small and frightened, he lets her go. As she races home to her nest of hungry children, the lion roars his pride to the savannah.

Then some hunters come and set a trap to catch a lion. As the lion proudly strolls along, he doesn’t see the net, trips the trap, and gets caught.

Who should hear his frustrated roaring but the little mouse, looking for food. She races to the tree and begins to gnaw at the ropes holding the lion captive.

After a long time, the lion falls free of the net and the little mouse takes one of the knots home for her children to play with.

The illustrations in this book emphasize the many textures of the animals and environment of the African savannah. Although the animals are realistically drawn, they are still imbued with the feelings portrayed by the original text of this fable. The helplessness of the mouse, the pride of the lion and the reversal of these emotions after the trapping and rescue are vividly pictured in Mr. Pinkney’s art.

Pinkney, J. (2009). The lion & the mouse. New York: Little, Brown and Company.