A Hungry Lion or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals - Lucy Ruth Cummins

A Hungry Lion, or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals – Lucy Ruth Cummins

(5 / 5)

I have had this book for a while now and It has taught me a very valuable lesson: **ALWAYS READ A BOOK YOURSELF BEFORE READING IT TO YOUR SMALL CHILD!!** I was shopping one day and found this book in dymocks. I don’t know if I was in a hurry or just not paying attention, but I should have thought (FROM THE DARN TITLE MEL!!!) that perhaps this is slightly inappropriate for the little ones. A DWINDLING Assortment of Animals. Sigh.

So as any other somewhat slightly intelligent person can figure out from the cover, there is a lion in this book, and there is a dwindling assortment of animals. As in, there are a lot of animals, and then there are not so many animals. One guess as to where they go…. But there are a few twists and turns to this book, don’t start complaining I’m giving away the story for you… The lion’s dietary preferences do not spoil the story here.

Anyway, there I was sitting with my (then 2 year old) son on the couch reading this book, he was extremely excited about the fact that there was a lion. I on the other hand, was silently regretting my choice of children’s book purchase, and wondering if I could suddenly take it away without a tantrum. HOWEVER, he BLOODY LOVED IT!!!

I’m not sure if he was just at the age where he didn’t really understand that a lion EATS other animals, or if he just didn’t care. He thought it was the funniest book he had ever seen, and proceeded to make me read it to him 5 more times in the next hour.

So a year on, he certainly does understand that lions eat other animals now, but he still loves this book. He enjoys finding and pointing out the animals as I read them out, he loves the twists the book takes, and he LOVES the ending!

The only thing I don’t like about this book is after we read it my son goes around the house yelling “HEY! WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?!!”.