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JIM'S LION by Russell Hoban

JIM'S LION

by Russell Hoban ; illustrated by Alexis Deacon

Pub Date: Nov. 11th, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6517-3
Publisher: Candlewick

Illustrator Deacon offers a dramatic, disturbing interpretation of an already-unsettling story of childhood illness.

The story remains the same as in the earlier version, a picture book with soft pencil-and-pastel illustrations by Ian Andrew (2001), the text both allusive and elusive. However, the presentations and quite likely the audiences vary considerably. Young Jim suffers from an unspecified condition that requires some sort of surgery to cure. Nurse Bami (from “Africa,” a vague description that risks allegations of cultural insensitivity) suggests imaginative and spiritual ways to find the strength to cope with his fear and anxiety. Wordless dream (or more accurately, nightmare) sequences presented in panels make up more than half the pages, expanding the vision and intensifying the impact of Hoban’s words. Occasional touches of humor appear, as when a series of animals auditions for the role of Jim’s animal “finder,” but more often, the watercolor pictures portray a surreal world, with a menacing rabbit magician or the eponymous lion displaying his fierce fangs. A muted and limited color palette causes splashes of blood red to stand out startlingly just as the spare, low-key telling heightens the paintings’ emotional heft.

Of possible interest to caregivers seeking books with bibliotherapeutic potential, this difficult and inventive work is most likely to be appreciated for its artistic vision.

(Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)