________________ CM . . . . Volume VI Number 9 . . . . January 7, 2000

cover My Four Lions.

Bernice Gold. Illustrated by Joanne Stanbridge.
Toronto, ON: Annick Press, 1999.
24 pp., pbk. & cloth, $7.95 (pbk.), $17.95 (cl.).
ISBN 1-55037-602-0 (pbk.), ISBN 1-55037-603-9 (cl.).

Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 3-6.
Review by Joan Payzant.

**** /4

excerpt:

When I get out of school I head straight for my camp. I follow the path deep into the forest. The forest is dark but I'm never afraid.
image Author Bernice Gold and illustrator Joanne Stanbridge have done an admirable job working through the interesting gimmick of this story. Like many other children in Canada today, a little latch-key boy goes home alone to his apartment after school. The story tells how he overcomes his loneliness with his imagination supplying him with four lion friends. The gimmick is that the left hand pages show the actual happening - eg. walking home alone from school, while the right hand page pictures the child walking into the forest of his imagination. Children will delight in the story, and it might also serve a very useful purpose in encouraging other latch-key kids to invent their own imaginary friends. A happy ending shows the boy's mother arriving home with a hug for her son and an unmistakable pizza box which suggests a favourite supper in the offing.

Highly Recommended.

Joan Payzant is a former teacher-librarian of Dartmouth, N.S.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - January 7, 2000.

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