My Mum is a Lioness

A brilliant follow-up to My Dad is a Grizzly Bear by this author/illustrator partnership, this book should also become a hit with young families. It is full of creative wit in the perfectly pitched text. Family life is chaotic but centred around the Mum who is indeed a LIONESS (down to her long swinging tail?). She loves nothing more than smothering all her family with cuddles and kisses – smackers for Dad (the Grizzly Bear), squeezes and kisses for the small son (the narrator) and the toddling sister. No-one can escape Mum when she is on a hunt. The boy imagines his Mum spending her days considering how to serve up her prey, once caught. Tossed in a wrap? Seasoned, roasted or toasted? This tireless Mum Lioness teaches her son to chase, pounce and leap so that he can star in a football match. But what pain when he is tripped and skins his knee! No-one else can comfort him, and ‘her strong, warm lioness hugs make everything better’. Every page has illustrations to support the text, ensuring readers know just how much love there is in this family. With high rise flats in the background to the ‘park run’, a clutch of Mums all race along with offspring in buggies, a multicultural mix. We spot one park runner who knows to avoid this crowd! What a perfect book for a family to share. Maybe the perfect gift on Mothering Sunday for any mother who is a lioness, or just to celebrate all mothers, all families.