Ella and the Naughty Lion($35.00Value)

Description

Only Ella can save her baby brother from Jasper, a naughty lion who slips in the door when Ella's mother comes home with a new baby and causes trouble by pulling the baby's blanket off, jumping into his bath, and chewing up his favorite toy. PreSchool-Grade 1-When Ella's mother comes home with the new baby, a naughty lion appears in the house for the first time. It picks on Jasper, shoves him out of his crib, tears up his teddy bear, and knocks him around in his bath. Ella disapproves, but is helpless to stop the animal's bad behavior until a fateful moment when the lion bumps the infant's pram down the stairs with possibly disastrous consequences, and Ella steps in to save the day. Her parents are generous with grateful praise, and though the lion is occasionally heard to growl after that, his power is broken. Cottringer's story describes a classic case of Freudian defense against stress, specifically projection. Ella's unacceptable impulses toward the new baby are attributed not to her, but to the lion. She herself is shocked and dismayed at the lion's naughtiness, just as we all are dismayed at certain feelings we'd rather not have. But Ella shows readers that they can master those negative impulses when she does so herself. Large-scale cartoon figures in soft colors make this one easy to use in story time. It compares favorably to Kevin Henkes's Julius, the Baby of the World (Greenwillow, 1990), Eloise Greenfield and John Steptoe's She Come Bringin' Me That Little Baby Girl (HarperCollins, 1974), and many other titles that deal with the arrival of a new family member. Ruth Semrau, formerly at Lovejoy School, Allen, TX Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Ages 4^-6. This begins with a particularly promising first line: "The day Ella's mother came home with baby Jasper, a lion slipped through the door." The lion is naughty: it pulls off Jasper's blanket and roars a lot. But the lion can be good, too, especially when it's visiting or playing outside. One day the lion throws a tantrum, almost resulting in Jasper's carriage taking a tumble; but Ella saves the baby, forging a bond between the siblings that causes the lion to slink out the door forever--well, maybe it shows up occasionally. Whether children get this at its metaphoric level or just take it as a story about a lion that comes to call, they will enjoy the homey moments juxtaposed with the antics of a beast wild with rivalry. Ayto's artwork, which looks a bit like early Sendak, raises what eventually becomes a rather pedestrian story to a book with so many amusing visual details that young listeners will take a second look. Ilene Cooper ``The day Ella's mother came home with baby Jasper, a lion slipped through the door,'' an alter ego on the loose. The lion snatches off the baby's blanket, roars when Ella's mother feeds the infant. When the baby's teddy bear is shredded, Ella has to admonish the beast, though he is back to his old tricks soon enough. In the pivotal scene, the baby is in danger and Ella pulls through, gaining the attention she craves and finally accepting the baby into the fold. The lion as a vehicle for Ella's emotions isn't so subtle that it obscures the message. Ayto's paintings (recalling Sendak's earliest illustrations), all wobbly and expressive, masterfully convey feelings of anger, ruthless glee, and knowing shame, although they do suggest that those sentiments are not shared by Ella. If only a heroic gesture on the part of the older sibling can curtail jealousy, what recourse is there when no such opportunity presents itself? Cottringer's first book adds little to the burgeoning canon of titles about a new baby in the house, but the language is vigorous and the telling is sharp. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. "Ella shows readers that they can master those negative impulses when she does so herself. . . . Large-scale cartoon figures in soft colors make this one easy to use in story time." -- Review