{"id":4647,"date":"2018-06-05T08:12:51","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T14:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4647"},"modified":"2018-06-05T08:14:52","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T14:14:52","slug":"is-a-lion-still-a-lion-if-he-wears-a-hat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4647","title":{"rendered":"“Is a lion still a lion if … he wears a hat?”"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
 

\nHere’s a quick post about Polly Dunbar’s<\/a><\/strong> latest book, A Lion Is a Lion<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Candlewick), released in April. It’s the story of a fierce lion, who makes his way into the home of two children by making himself quite dapper \u2014 donning a hat and coat and carrying an umbrella. Is he still a lion, Dunbar asks readers, if he makes himself more human-like and even if he puts on certain manners, such as skipping down the street and singing “Hoobie-doobie-doo”? What about if he appears<\/em> thoughtful? What if he doesn’t forget his please<\/em> and thank-yous<\/em>? <\/p>\n


\n
 

\n<\/a>
\n

(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
\n
 
<\/p>\n

The children are taken in, dancing with the lion and even sitting down to dine with him. But is this lion still a lion? Yes, he exposes his “oh-so-pearly-white” teeth and roars loudly, attempting to bite the children. The lion is in full pursuit when the children put a stop to it with strident and forceful “NO!”s. <\/p>\n

There is something early-Sendakian (even Dunbar’s loose-lined art) in this story about setting boundaries. I think it’s several things but primarily that the children in the story are empowered to put a stop to the behavior. I love to see stories like this, ones with such respect for the abilities of children. (The Kirkus<\/em> review<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> notes that the spirit of Maurice Sendak “hovers happily” in this tale.) <\/p>\n

“No, you may NOT come in \u2014 we DO mind if you do!” Refreshing.
\n
 

\n<\/a>
\n

(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
\n
 

\n
* * * * * * *<\/center> <\/p>\n

A LION IS A LION. Copyright \u00a9 2018 by Polly Dunbar. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA on behalf of Walker Books, London.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Here’s a quick post about Polly Dunbar’s latest book, A Lion Is a Lion (Candlewick), released in April. It’s the story of a fierce lion, who makes his way into the home of two children by making himself quite dapper \u2014 donning a hat and coat and carrying an umbrella. Is he still a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}