The Lion and the Mouse

Author/Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney

Genre: Traditional literature

Grade level: K-3

Award: Caldecott Medal

This book has no words in it. It is all illustrations in order to tell the story of Aesop's popular fable. A small mouse escapes the claws of a hungry owl. He finds himself in the trapped in the paws of a lion shortly after. The lion decides to let the mouse go. Soon after the lion is caught in a trap. The lion could not escape. The mouse comes to the rescue to repay the lion for what he had done for him and nibbles on the ropes in order to free him. In the final pages the lion and his cubs prowl around with the mouse family on their back. 

This book is a very interesting book that can be used to talk about kindness. It also is interesting to talk about how pictures can create a story. Students could create their own story using only pictures. 

The illustrations are very beautiful. They are color watercolor paintings as well as colored pencils. They are realistic paintings. The expressions are very unique to the story and still look realistic. Since the story has no words, the illustrations needed to convey emotion and expressions in them.