My Four Lions

In this reassuring book, a boy's imaginary lion friends keep him company when he returns each day to an empty home. The left-hand pages show him walking through a snowstorm to his apartment, and then setting up cut-out white paper lion figures; the pages on the right follow him to his fantasy camp, where the massive lions faithfully await him. The unassuming text offers a perceptive look at how the boy comforts himself by taking care of the lions: ""When it gets dark I tell lion stories/ to make them stay brave."" In the accompanying watercolor painting, the lions look a bit anxious, as if they, too, need to boost their courage. His mother returns on the last page, bearing a pizza (just like the one he shared with the lions). Stanbridge (author of the middle-grade novel The Leftover Kid) makes a promising artistic debut. The forms of the people and the lions are unsteady, but the convincing depiction of the boy's emotions and the thoughtful detail of the artwork amply compensate. The contrast between the still, gray apartment and the animated lions crowding around a campfire plays up the boy's transformative imagination. This tale may well inspire youngsters to create comforting companions of their own. Ages 5-7. (Oct.)