ENCHANTED LIONS
by David T. Greenberg and illustrated by Kristina Swarner
When the “sea is a maze of swirls” and the “night is ablaze with pearls,” Rose opens her shutters and discovers enchanted lions rising from the ocean to cavort on the sand. As one of the enchanted lions bounds into her room, Rose fearlessly climbs on his back and they “swoop through outer space,” past constellations Pegasus and Pisces. Racing with the unicorn Monoceros, they “jump-rope crescent moons, hopscotch asteroids” and are rescued from a black hole by the stellar whale Cetus. Safely back home, Rose and her enchanted lion rub noses before she tucks in for the night with her kitty. Greenberg’s cadenced, rhyming text relies on images of “cosmic suction cups,” “giant rafters holding everything in place” and “interstellar voids” to convey galactic timelessness and enormity. Using simple forms washed with the perfect palette of grainy midnight blues, sea greens and tawny yellows, Swarner’s luminous illustrations highlight Rose’s freeform romp with her very cuddly lion across a glorious star-studded cosmos of double-page spreads. An enchanting bedtime caper. (Picture book. 5-8)