cover image Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion: A Cautionary Tale

Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion: A Cautionary Tale

Hilaire Belloc. Little Brown and Company, $4.95 (24pp) ISBN 978-0-316-13816-1

Parents who will stop at nothing to make their children behave may want to present this Victorian cautionary talein good spirit, of course. Belloc's Jim is very well provided for in his self-controlled parents' home. The naughty boy defects, though, running away from Nurse, and is eaten by a zoo lion. Chess's art shows off the splendor of indoor life in those days: trim, warm interiors with a la mode wallpaper and draperies. She also presents very personable zoo bears, ant-eaters, Ponto the lion and a very veracious zookeeper. The images herein (Jim's gulp by gulp journey into the lion; his head rolling around on the pavement) make a lasting impressionbeware cautionary tales! Ages 7-up. (May)