As Brave as a Lion

The little girl who inhabits this colourful story has an imaginary friend, a lion. She just calls him ‘my lion’, and they have lots of adventures because he is always with her. Some of their adventures have to do with being afraid to speak through nerves and shyness, or having to say ‘sorry’ when she has done something wrong. But most of the story has to do with fears: being in the dark at night, or a very high slide in the playground, when she climbs to the top of the ladder and then can’t make herself go down until she remembers that her lion is afraid too, and together, they can be brave and slide down – which, of course, they do and learn to love it. The little girl is part of the lion as he is part of her, so they are brave together and encourage each other. It’s a super parable about how to manage your own fears, and as so many young children have imaginary friends, this picture book would make a nice way of using them to the good. There are supportive parents, too, which is a good touch. The illustrations are fun, full of the two expressive faces interacting with each other through play as well as frightening times. A fine story that covers the general subject of fear without being the least bit preachy.