Jerry Pinkney takes the Aesop's fable story about a lion and a mouse and makes it come alive with his illustrations. The only words in The Lion & The Mouse are the sounds such as "squeak", "grr", "screech", and "roar". Yet, the book needs no words to get the story across. Especially for people who have heard this particular Aseop's fable will recognize the story within a few pages. The Lion & the Mouse contains some of the most beautiful and detailed illustrations of any book I have ever seen. This is not a book to be read aloud to a large group but one to be held close and examined to catch all the details. I just wanted to sit and soak in all the magnificent artwork.
On one of the first pages, Jerry Pinkney dedicates this book to his first great-granddaughter. When I read that I was surprised that someone with great-grandchildren was still writing and drawing books (I'm not really sure why that caught my attention, it's not like there is an age limit on creativity). When I went to his website to look for more books he had written I saw that he had been writing and illustrating books since at least 1964, and that since 1964 he has created 86 children's books - amazing! In many of his books he takes stories that are quite old and gives them his own drawings. Some of his books include The Patchwork Quilt, New Shoes for Silvia, Strange Animals of the Sea, The Little Match Girl, The Ugly Duckling, The Jungle Book, and Little Red Riding Hood. He has also illustrated several novels, provided the art for book covers, created posters, designed stamps, and produced some independent art.
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