"Lionel and the Lion's Share" by Lou Peacock and Lisa Sheehan is loads of fun.
Introducing Lionel. He's a lion, and if truth be told he's a little bit full of himself - and very much a spoilt brat!
Lionel firmly believes in the old adage "The Lion's Share" so when Lionel visits the music shop he's not content with just taking one instrument, he takes the whole shop.
Similarly, in the hat shop and at the balloon stand Lionel insists that he need ALL THE THINGS! Much to the dismay of his friends who are getting a bit tired of Lionel's selfish non-sharing ways.
Things come to a head at Chloe's birthday party when Lionel decides that he should have "The Lion's Share" of Chloe's birthday cake (meaning the whole durned thing!)
That really is the final straw. Lionel soon finds that his friends have had enough so Lionel leaves the party. Is that it for his friendship? What's the point of having tons and tons of things if you've got no friends left to share them all with.
Lionel then comes up with a plan...
This is a great little story, and Lionel is just SO MUCH FUN to read aloud in a rather haughty voice. As we mentioned at the top of the review the supporting cast of animal characters bring a level of interest to this tidy little moral tale and if there's one thing kids definitely do need to read about it's the worth of sharing their things (I'm still never sure C has learned that lesson, even at 9!)
C's best bit: When Lionel wolfs down the entire birthday cake. Greedy so and so!
Daddy's best bit: A nice neat and cleverly written moral tale with fab artwork. Lionel is just such a great character, classic 'love to hate' baddie but he does manage to turn things around in the end in quite a lovely way.
"Lionel and the Lion's Share" by Lou Peacock and Lisa Sheehan is out now, published by Nosy Crow (Kindly supplied for review).