If I had a lion, life would be lovely...and in page after page of perky sketches stroked with yellow, orange and red, is lion exiting with a swish of the tail (""If he didn't care for vegetables, I wouldn't make a fuss""); lion grimly enduring a bath (""I would wash my lion and brush his mane"") and opening wide (""and even clean his teeth for him""); lion and little girl balancing on drums (""He might teach me some of the things lions know""); morose little girl cradling lion's big shaggy head on her lap (""If ever I felt lonely or sad, my lion would sit with me... But we wouldn't be lonely very often"")... little girl waving good-by to lion at the zoo... ""If I had a lion..."" This goes back to childhood's first imagining (and publishing's first picture book); it's anything but original, nothing but fun--but it is that.