Love Is for Roaring

November 1, 2021
A genuine conversation about love and expressing it. In a diverse animal classroom--worm to giraffe, kangaroo to ladybug--an assignment is posted on the whiteboard: "Show your Love." Lion, looking vulnerable rather than angry, "roar[s]": "For whom? For what? And WHY?!" The task seems "impossible...undoable...unimaginable." Luckily, Lion's friend Mouse understands that glittery craft supplies and pink paper hearts aren't Lion's cup of tea. Patiently, he talks Lion through the process of identifying what he doesn't love (hugs, kisses, dessert--he prefers broccoli!) and what he does: badminton with a pine cone as shuttlecock; growling, roaring, running, chasing, and catching; and his friendship with Mouse. Liwska's art blankets everything with her trademark softness, which serves to mute words like roar and growling and Lion's description as "fearsome." From gentle browns and warm grays to the animals' downy fur and cottony edges, nothing is aesthetically threatening. This artistic softness, in turn, leaves room for visual content with edge: the subtlest reference to Lion's natural role as a predator of, perhaps, mice; a school lesson featuring a (textually unremarked) film about pollution, smokestacks, and soot; a single illustration, clearly a memory, in which Lion wears a mask and holds a stiff tape measure between himself and Mouse, nodding oh so quietly to the pandemic, presumably in this book's past. (Mouse's mask hangs off his ear because he's eating.) A comforting support of the right to make love-related decisions; softness in a slightly sad world. (Picture book. 3-7)

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November 1, 2021

K-Gr 2-Lion is grumpy when a class assignment instructs everyone to make a list: "Show your love." Lion is fearsome and fierce and doesn't like lovey-dovey stuff. Mouse senses that Lion is upset and shares images of things Lion does enjoy-sweet treats and running and roaring. Through this thoughtful friend, Lion realizes that he often shows love, and he embraces this aspect of himself. The book has great word choices, such as fearsome and fierce, but more importantly it beautifully captures friendship and the importance of conveying love. The story could be used to teach SEL and help children better articulate and understand their emotions. The illustrations in muted, smudgy pastels are calming and relatable. VERDICT A thoughtful, reasonable approach to the broad definitions of love and how to show it, this book meets children where they are and coaxes understanding.-Tracey Hodges, Univ. of Alabama, Northport, AL

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