LION AT SCHOOL AND OTHER STORIES

Nine short stories focusing on real childhood concerns. In the title story, a little girl is afraid of a bully and imagines how wonderful it would be to have a lion friend to take her to school for support. The "Runaway" finds a better answer after knocking a freshly hung wash into the dirt. In "The Executioner," Andy knows he must save his new mouse friend from his father's mousetrap, but how? Although the stories are short, Pearce conveys a good deal of character and imagination in a few words and understands how a young child's mind works in puzzling out how to cope with life. Good read-alouds, but also accessible to new readers. Several of the stories were originally written for the BBC.