Nobody Laughs At A Lion!

by Paul Bright

"You can see why I'm King of the Jungle," said Big Lion. "It's because I'm the best." But what is he best at? He quickly discovers that the jungle is full of talented animals. Cheetah, monkey, snake, and elephant giggle as Big Lion tries and fails to run, climb, creep, and crash through the forest. Energetic and expressive illustrations will entertain young readers until the very end when Big Lion finds out what he does best. And then, Nobody Laughs at a Lion!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens

26 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Check out more Picture book reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...

Lion has no idea what he's good at... and everything he can think of is proven better done by another animal. Then he roars... and everyone stops laughing.

I really didn't enjoy this book. My nephew ADORES lions and the art was simple enough for him to draw and have fun with it. He didn't have any trouble reading the book, the words were all appropriate but the story was clearly muddled to him. He puzzled about why the lion was trying to do things clearly meant for other animals. And there was so much more the lion was good at that the roaring thing as his talent was lame.

The message of the book is plain awful! The animals are all laughing at the lion because they could do things better than him but not too loudly because he's a lion! Uh, what?! And the lion acted like a bully... a bully who is one due to insecurity but a bully nonetheless. I just couldn't find a single redeemable character!

I don't appreciate librarians or teachers reading this to children either, for any reason! We already have TOO many children bullied and laughed at school to the point they are committing acts of suicide that NO BOOK with a message this is okay should have contact with growing minds.

BOTTOM LINE: Misconceived premise from the start!

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You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my picture book reviews in a special feature called Boo's Picture Gallery...

[Victoria Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book would make a good read aloud because it teaches children that not everyone is good at everything. The lion thought he was the best at everything but it turned out he was really good at roaring instead of everything else. Each person has their strengths but each person is never good at everything.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone has something they are the best at, and after being quietly laughed at by others better than lion, he finally finds and takes great pride in what he is best at.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some excellent words in here! I really liked the art style too!

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a funny book about a lion who says he is best at everything. It is a little bit long, but would work well for a pre-k storytime about lions.

[Samantha Gacke]

The lion thinks that he is the best at EVERYTHING and gets really upset when the other animals prove him wrong and laugh at him.

The really interesting thing about the art in this book is the appearance of depth in all of the pictures. The illustrator created the depth using, not just size, but also color. When things seem to be at a distance, the objects are smaller, but also the color is much softer. To show things were closer, the illustrator helped show it by making the objects very vibrant and bright. Another interesting thing that the illustrator utilizes is the use of shadows. When the lion is jumping or the cheetah is running, the reader can tell that they are not on the ground by their shadow. The shadows also add the appearance of depth by helping indicate where the animals or other objects are lying on the page.

[Beverley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is about a lion who wants to be the best at everything and tries proving it to Ma Lion. He said he was the best at running, but the cheetah was better than him and the cheetah laughed at him. He continues to try and find something that he was best at until the lion couldn't find anything apart from his 'roar'. When the lion roared all the other animals stopped laughing. I thought this book was illustrated well with all the different animals, but I did not enjoy reading it much.

This book could be used for story time and to question younger children on the different animals that they could see. It could also be used for Art, where the children could draw the different animals. They could also use the book for knowledge retrieval to remember the animals of the story and what they were best at.

[Alicia Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lion is the king of the jungle and he decides to brag about it one day to his sister, who then asks him what allows him to be king. He explains that he's the best at certain things and over the course of the book, we learn that other animals in the area are far better at them than he is. What's the use of being king of the jungle when you're not the best at anything? Lion has an identity crisis and it's very fun to watch. The illustrations are detailed enough that the reader can see Lion slowly losing composure and we find that it becomes quite hard to NOT laugh at this poor lion. My only complaint was that the book got a little long, though entranced readers won't mind.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The children enjoyed this story about a lion who tries and fails to outrun a cheetah, out climb a monkey, out slither a snake, and out push an elephant. But one thing he is best at is ROARING! (At which point all the children attending story time were invited to roar, which they performed with gusto!).

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a lion who wants to be the best at everything and when he finds out he isn't it makes him angry. Eventually he does find out what he's best at doing and it makes him very happy.
On another note, the description of this book makes no sense. It isn't a collection of Christmas stories and so far it is the only description I've come across on good reads that is highly inaccurate.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really cute book about a lion trying to find what he’s best at. Great way to teach that we all have unique strengths and differences and that just because someone might be better than us in one area, doesn’t mean we don’t have our own unique thing, too.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I changed this book around a little to make it more interactive for the older kids, but it was a little long. I probably should have left out one section to keep the kids more engaged. But they had fun with it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lion tries to be the best at things he's not best at and gets upset when he doesn't measure up. But his roar is what he does best. Great synonyms for "laugh" and fun pictures. Great to just paraphrase.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Length makes this book for preschool and up. Every animal is good at something but the king of the jungle should be the best at everything right? Each animal shows off their talents but what is the lion best at?

[Huda Fel · Rating 5 out of 5]

:)إنه هو فقط، ملك الغابة

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, repetitive story of a lion who thinks he is the best at everything only to find out that he isn't.

[Iamaby En · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lion's facial expressions are funny!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable plot but the lion is cute and earns the book four stars.

[Nojood Alsudairi · Rating 5 out of 5]

لا أحد يزأر مثل الأسد