by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 13, 2010

There's lots of colorful, funny pictures of all the animals in the jungle. And there's lots of smiles, too, since they're all proudly showing off the things they're good at doing. "Big Lion" has an enormous orange mane, which makes him look ridiculous as he watches the action with his crooked lion smile. He boasts vainly that he's King of the Jungle because he's the best - until his sister asks him what exactly he's the best at?

I think it's the perfect book for children because of its sunny tone, and a funny yet simple story. It's called "Nobody Laughs at a Lion," but that's what every animal seems to be doing. The lion bounds through the grass to show that he's best at running - until he's casually passed by an enthusiastic cheetah. He claims he's the best at crawling silently through the grass - until a smiling snake cheerfully slithers past him. And Big Lion even claims he's the best at climbing trees, until he discovers a monkey swinging from the top of his tree's highest branch.  

To see just how tall that tree is, you have to tilt the book 90 degrees

The bright colors add extra cheerfulness to the story.  (According to the book's jacket, illustrator Matt Buckingham "enjoys writing and illustrating the kinds of picture books he would have loved to read when he was growing up.")  His illustrations keep the story engaging, even as its plot falls into a predictable pattern. After the lion brags that he's the best at knocking over trees, he's overtaken by two elephants. But Buckingham draws the second one as a smiling baby elephant, both blazing a trail of broken bamboo trees - and he playfully colors the elephants a greyish-pink!

Each animal snickers or smiles softly as they pass, because no one laughs out loud at a lion. But the lion stills recognizes that they're laughing at him, and this makes him angrier and angrier. The lion's very frustrated because he can't think of what he's best at, and says "It really makes me want to..." And then you have to turn the page.

"...ROAR!"

Author Paul Bright began writing stories for his own children, and then continued after they'd grown up.  I think he's focusing more on keeping children entertained then on sending an educational message. His book ends with a nice conclusion, with all the animals staring back at the roaring lion with a startled gape on their face.

But now the lion's the one with a big smile - and even his sister is smiling too.

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