Clementine and the Lion

by Zoey Abbott

Overview

A plucky, self-determined girl gets an unexpected houseguest. Since her parents are ogres of the worst kind, Clementine is relieved when her mother is snatched by dragons and her father lost at sea in a bottle. Now she eats when she pleases, does her hair as she likes, or not. She’s happy. But when a lion appears, uninvited, in her living room, Clementine’s pleasant world is suddenly upended. After he eats all the food and wrecks the house, Clementine realizes there’s nothing she can do but leave. Or is there? Seeing her handle life with such courage and aplomb, kids will be searching for their own inner Clementine!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525310461
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	05/03/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	114 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Zoey Abbott is the author-illustrator of I Do Not Like Yolanda and Pig and Horse and the Something Scary. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family.

Editorial Reviews

This story sure to spark a multitude of questions and great discussions about setting and respecting boundaries, accepting oneself and others, and finding friendship in unlikely places.—Children's Literature

From the Publisher

2022-03-30
Young Clementine has a ball living alone…but then discovers that sharing a home isn’t so bad either.

In a story that may have more meaning for fledgling adults than younger readers, Clementine, portrayed as a light-skinned child—at least in earlier scenes—with a luxuriant spray of orange hair, takes advantage of the sudden disappearance of equally pale parents she considers “ogres” (they’re not) to invent a paint that makes the whole house invisible and, from then on, to do as she pleases. That halcyon time comes to an abrupt end when she leaves the door open after a grocery run and a male lion strolls in to drink milk out of the carton, leave the bathroom a mess, and generally behave like a stereotypical bachelor. Until, that is, Clementine comes out of hiding and the two quickly discover that they’re compatible…so much so that they take up residence together and even strip off the house’s invisibility paint in case the ’rents ever reappear. Plenty of children will find the notion of having a whole house to themselves an appealing one, but both the plotline and stylish detailing in the finely drawn pencil and gouache illustrations suggest that Abbott may have a broader audience in mind from the start. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A tongue-in-cheek foray for independent sorts—not necessarily younger ones. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews