The Lion or the Mouse?

In this charmingly subversive reinterpretation of a classic tale, the Morrisons and Pascal Lemaitre take a hilarious look at bullying.

The cocky lion, the self-proclaimed "baddest in the land," believes himself invincible until he gets a thorn stuck in his paw. Only a weak little mouse can help him, but then the lion must indulge the mouse's ridiculous pride and appetite for power.

Generation after generation, classic fables, folklore, and myth remain popular because they quicken the imagination of readers and listeners of all ages. We, the creators of the Who's Got Game? series were inspired by the wonder of Aesop's Fables—their vitality, their endless demand for more interpretations. In our versions the original stories are opened up and their moralistic endings reimagined; the victim might not lose; the timid gets a chance to become strong; the fool can gain insight; the powerful may lose their grip. Anything can happen!

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) was a Nobel Prize–winning American author, editor, and professor. Her contributions to the modern canon are numerous. Some of her acclaimed titles include: The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. She won the Nobel Prize for Literature 1993.

Slade Morrison was born in Ohio and educated in New York City. He studied art at SUNY Purchase and collaborated with his mother, Toni Morrison, on five books for children.

Pascal Lemaitre illustrated Toni and Slade Morrison's bestselling Who's Got Game?: Three Fables, as well as many other books for children. He and his family divide their time between Brussels, Belgium, where he teaches illustration, and Brooklyn, New York. Visit him online at PascalLemaitre.com.