Jim's Lion - Hardcover

Hoban, Russell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0744575060 ISBN 13: 9780744575064

Publisher: Walker, 2001

Synopsis

An acclaimed, moving story about a child undergoing a major operation facing his fear and triumphing. Lying in his hospital bed, Jim worries about being put to sleep before his operation. What if the doctors send him somewhere that he can't find his way back from? Nurse Bami says his finder will come looking for him. Everyone has their own finder; Jim just has to find his. And deep in his dreams, he does: a lion. But when the time comes, will Jim's lion be able to find him and bring him safely home?

About this title

About the Author

Russell Hoban was born in Pennsylvania. His books for adults include the modern classic Riddley Walker. He has written more than sixty picture books, including The Sea-thing Child, shortlisted for the 2000 Kate Greenaway Award, as well as the novel The Mouse and His Child. Ian Andrew has worked on numerous animated films, including Father Christmas and his own film, Dolphins, which won the First Bite Award in 1987. His book The Lion and the Mouse was shortlisted for the 1996 Mother Goose Award, and he has also illustrated the Walker picture book The Midnight Man, written by Berlie Doherty.

From School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-Critically ill children, a population largely absent from the picture-book world, will now have a hero in Jim. There are no happily ever afters, but instead the realistic victory of courage in the face of surgery, and a Christmas morning spent at home rather than in the hospital. Jim faces an unnamed but clearly life-threatening illness with the help of Nurse Bami. Described as being from Africa and with "tribal scars on her cheeks," she shares with him the idea of a finder who will bring him back from the place he enters-induced sleep. The successful aftermath of the operation is not revealed through the expected hospital scene; the story takes a chronological leap from Jim's dream of his finder, the lion of the title, to his post-release holiday at home. Large, soft illustrations are worked around sizable blocks of text to show an expressive, tow-headed child; a magnificent lion; and loving adults. Movement is shown as a progression of figures, multiple Jims climbing to the top of a cliff, several lions as the animal comes nearer and nearer. Breathtaking pastels in understated blues, greens, and tans with subtle pencil cross-hatching perfectly match the quiet courage of the boy depicted in the gracefully simple text.

Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Walker
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0744575060
• ISBN 13: 9780744575064
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40