ROAR!
by Pamela Duncan Edwards & illustrated by Henry Cole
A lonely little lion looks for a playmate, but his friendly roaring drives all the animals away in this bland counting/color book. Having sent 1 red monkey, 2 pink flamingos, 3 orange warthogs, and so forth scurrying off, little lion at last finds 9 other yellow lion cubs, and joins them for an exuberant, stampede-inducing collective roar. The animals are easily recognizable and wear either cheery (lions) or disconcerted (everything else) expressions, but neither they, nor Edwards's rhymes—“Friendly little lion cub feels a little sad, / Plods down the pathway—pad, pad, pad.”—display the imaginative sparkle of Some Smug Slug (1996), Honk! (1998) or this team's other books. Young children may enjoy the safari, but it's a routine trip over well-traveled territory. (Picture book. 4-5)