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★★★★★ 5
A beautifully written and illustrated tale of kindness, courage and (imaginary) friendship
Format: Hardcover
A beautifully written and illustrated tale of kindness, courage and friendship (even if the friend is in your imagination). This is a great picture book for building self-esteem and for helping early learners to discover ways to overcome obstacles by showing how upbeat confidence boosting self-talk is the way to go.
I adore this beautiful family and how the climb up the slide's stairs is so relatable-you just feel the endless up, up, up as you ascend, like climbing up the stairs of the high dive and looking down and just that whoosh of fear that vertakes you from the seemingly dizzying height. I love the kindness on all the adults' faces and the cute expressions from the child. The lion is magnificent. I love that it gives shape to a child’s imaginary friend and that this friend is a true safety net -which is really the child being their own safety net. The end pages are bright orange and sunny, using the cute lion face in the pattern and all the illustrations, which are predominantly blue and yellow/orange illustrations are the perfect backdrop for the tumble of dark curls on the child’s head which allow the size of the lion to appear gigantic, and yet, calm and sweet like a kitty cat. Very sweet book! I love its message of bravery, confidence building and how you can truly be your own best friend.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2023
