Welcome to Children's Corner book reviews from 4MBS Classic Radio FM in Brisbane. Here you will find short annotations of the children's books reviewed by Kerry Neary in Children's Corner on 4MBS, together with the details you need to find them at your favourite bookstore. Any prices shown are the publisher's Australian recommended price and may vary depending on where you shop. You are welcome to use these reviews for newsletters and the like with appropriate acknowledgement.

Aug 2, 2014

The stone lion

Margaret Wild, illustrated by Ritva Voulita
Little Hare (Hardie Grant Egmont)
ISBN: 9781921894855           RRP: $24.95

The lion rests on its pedestal, long wanting to overcome its rigidity and run through the park. Sara and her baby brother sleep at its paws in the winter snow. Overcome with compassion for their plight the lion is granted its wish to take on breathing life; but it uses the short opportunity available to drag the baby and the girl into the library, where they will be saved. Majestic illustrations, rendered in oil pastels, reflect the tone of the story and the period of the setting. In this fable for our times, kindness reaps its own rewards and its magic transforms those that it touches.