Lion and Mouse

This simple story is hugely enhanced by remarkable illustrations.  Lion and Mouse are friends, but Lion is a terrible boaster.  He believes himself to be the best at everything, and when Mouse disappears because he feels belittled, Lion hardly notices.  But when the dark comes, Lion is scared and calls out for his friend Mouse.  Mouse is unsure as to whether to come to the rescue, but he does, and Lion learns about true friendship.  ‘From that day on, Lion and Mouse were the best at being best friends.’  Simple, yes, but the illustrations achieve so much more than an artless morality tale.  Ms Echeverri uses pencil and zinging colour in ways not often seen.  The two animals are outlined in pencil, and Lion’s mane and tail are zigzag pencil lines, as are Mouse’s whiskers and tail.  They have bright gingham clothes, Lion’s being brightest, of course, as he must be best.  The background colour is blue or gold  on each page, except for the blackness when Lion is in the dark.  The originality of the artist’s work is emphasised in the way she has Mouse rescue Lion.  He draws a circle of light (with a pencil) from behind the dark, enlarging it until he can throw a rope (another pencil line) to Lion.  The integrated text is very much part of the whole, and the delicacy of much of the line drawing is exquisite – particularly the squiggly trees at the beginning and end of the story.  A quite special book.