The Lion and the Mouse (2009)

Jerry Pinkney

Set in the African Serengeti of Tanzania and Kenya, this is a wordless retelling of Aesop’s fable ‘The Lion and the Mouse’.

Spread from The Lion and the Mouse, showing animals of the African Serengeti

An enormous lion captures a tiny mouse, but then magnanimously releases him.

Spread from The Lion and the Mouse, showing the Mouse at the mercy of the Lion

Later the mouse returns the favour by gnawing through the poacher’s nets that have ensared the lion, thereby setting it free.

Spread from The Lion and the Mouse, showing the Mouse freeing the Lion from his bonds

This powerful moral tale, rendered in gloriously warm shades of orange with a panorama of other majestic wild animals in the background, won the 2010 Caldecott Medal.