The Snow Lion

Shy Caro and her mother have moved into a new house: “The walls were white, the ceilings were white, and even the doors were white.” Her loneliness is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a huge, kind lion who seems to materialize out of the monochromatic décor. The Snow Lion is not only a wonderful playmate (winking from the walls he can easily disappear against), he’s also wise, gently nudging Caro to play with a neighborhood boy named Bobby, who in turn introduces Caro to his friends (“I won’t know anyone,” she worries. “You’ll have a great time,” the lion replies, “and you do know Bobby”). Caro begins to fit in but now wonders whether she’s being disloyal to her first friend. Unfussy prose by Helmore (Letterbox Lil) makes for lovely, measured storytelling, and it’s a fine match for Jones’s generously scaled art. The illustrator places his doll-like characters in swathes of textured color punctuated with shades of orange (Caro has deep auburn hair). Visually and emotionally, there’s expansiveness, poignancy, and hope in these pages, the Snow Lion’s benevolent presence presiding over it all. Ages 4–8. [em](Oct.) [/em]