Book Review: A Lion For A Night by R.M. Morrissey
This story has a clever plot and the illustrations are cute. It might be a good read for older kids, though I’m not sure if it’s a subject that would interest them.
I thought it was a book for younger children. Kids who are my pre-K grandson’s age (nearly 5) likely won’t understand the text as the author intends, though.
For example, when Jenkins doesn’t find the monster while he looks for it in his lion suit, he sees a bigger, scarier monster at his door. The next paragraph is apparently his mom scolding him. While it’s clear that he’s then talking to his mom, where the “monster” went or if it’s actually just his mother isn’t stated.
After his mother leaves him alone, he hears the monster again in his room. Jenkins isn’t too scared, but it isn’t stated why, except that he’s in a sloth suit now so he won’t hunt for it because a sloth wouldn’t do that.
Even if I deviate from the text and explain what I think happens, what my grandson is likely to take from the story is that monsters are real, and he’s already scared of the dark.
The presentation is humorous for the adult reading it, but I don’t think it would be a good experience for the kid. It kind of reminds me of a friend who thought it was great fun to chase her terrified and screaming 3-year-old around while proclaiming that she was going to unscrew the child’s belly button so her butt would fall off.
Thank you to R.M. Morrissey and StoryOrigin for a free advance review copy of A Lion For A Night. I’m under no obligation to favor the book in my review. I awarded it 3 stars because it’s kind of funny to me and gives attention to messiness and fear of monsters at bedtime. I didn’t award more stars because the message doesn’t seem to me to hit the mark for children.
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