A LION NAMED SHIRLEY WILLIAMSON

A lionness bound for a zoo is dubbed Shirley Williamson due to a bad phone connection. It's a name that draws attention (hordes come to view her), special privileges from Seymour the zookeeper (his deceased wife's name was Shirley and the memories are strong), and resentment from the lions—Goobah, Poobah, and Aroobah. The attention is nice, but what Shirley really pines for is her home on the African savannah. The zoo director renames Shirley Bongo and fires Seymour; the director's incompetent first cousin gets Seymour's job and leaves Shirley's door open, allowing her to flee to Seymour's Brooklyn apartment. Seymour, not a little concerned by the hungry look in Shirley's eye, knows that to keep her as a pet would be impractical. Together, they head zooward. With the same tristful humor he brought to the stories of Lyle Crocodile, Waber (Lyle at the Office, 1994, etc.) makes the best of an imperfect situation, a slice of life without the whipped cream and a cherry on top: Shirley gets her name back—but also her cage. Humor with bite, as it were, given substance by the playful artwork. (Picture book. 4-8)