THE LION AND THE LITTLE RED BIRD

A little red bird meets a lion and wonders why the end of his tail is a different color each day. The lion can't understand the bird's chirping questions, but he likes her cheerful company, and so they wander amiably together through fields and hills and splash in a mountain lake. One night, the gentle lion rescues the bird from a storm and brings her into his warm cave, which is decorated with paintings of the places they've seen together--paintings that the lion has made using the end of his tail as a brush. This joyous tale about the wordless discoveries of friendship is illustrated with mixed-media collages so richly colored and textured that readers will want to feel the pages. As in Abuela, the backgrounds, like medieval tapestries, are rich with flora, fauna, and other detail and spangled like the decorative paintings of Klimt. Enchanting.