About ten days ago, this loud looking book hit the shelves...I couldn't get to it earlier because of my ever-high reading pile, which is sad. But I'm definitely ready to hit it now! I have to smile at the cover. I love the array of very happy, sign-wielding animals and can't help but laugh and hold my ears with that screaming lion. March on!
Anyway, I'm curious where this one goes, especially since I just had a book up end of last week about reading (I Want to Read All the Books by Debbie Ridpath Ohi). I do expect tons of energy in these pages and excitement!
ROAR FOR READING
by Beth Ferry
Illustrated by Andrew Joyner
Simon & Schuster
Picture Book
40 pages
ages 4 to 8
From New York Times bestselling author Beth Ferry comes a moving picture book about a brave little lion who decides to speak out for stories by standing up to book banning.
Libraries and lions have a history so long no one’s quite sure how it began—maybe because books were once rare and needed fierce protectors? Still, it’s been a very long time since lions had to roar in the name of books. But when young Julius finds out that books are being banned at his local library, he becomes so filled with emotion that he ROARS! Not all lions are librarians, but all librarians are lions in this inspiring tale of protecting the stories that connect us and defending books that hold ideas that can change the world.
MY TIDBITS
Let your voices be heard! — It's a message, which rings so true through these pages and will have readers cheering right along at the end.
This one doesn't start with a main character, per say, but rather tells a fantastical tale about the beginning of libraries, where a lion keeps watch over borrowed books from a cave. It sets a lovely tone and lays a fitting atmosphere (a solemn-ish one with humorous undertones). From here, the evolution of the library (fantasy, of course) demonstrates future lions still running libraries, but in the sense that we know today. The lion librarian is friendly and calm, books over-flow on the shelves, and readers are everywhere...no longer roared at and controlled while borrowing. Plus, there's already an undertone of 'what happened to the fierce, roaring lion?' because, at least for us, he was somewhat missed...not that we want a fierce roaring lion when visiting a library, but the character is fun. Then, the main tale takes off with a twist around book banning. Yep, this lion librarian and the younger lion on the cover have a job to do to get favorite books back on those shelves.
The message is very clear and dances around book banning. Obviously, it takes a clear stance against it and demonstrates how readers no longer have access to their favorite books or those they would like to read. At the end, it also very briefly hits on how to go against banning. While the messaging is clear, the tale holds enough fantasy and fun to keep it from suffering under the weight of preaching. These animals are great, and it's enjoyable to cheer for them the whole way through.
The illustrations are very detailed and can be flipped through on their own to follow the story for those listeners, who aren't sure of their words yet. It makes a great read-aloud for classroom and group settings, especially when hitting themes such as book banning.
And here they are...
Beth Ferry is the author of numerous picture books for children including Roar for Reading, Prunella, and the New York Times bestseller Stick and Stone. She is an avid reader who believes that any day spent with a book is a perfect day. Beth lives with her family by the beach in New Jersey where she finds inspiration in the salty air. In addition to writing picture books, Beth also writes chapter books and graphic novels. She’s the author of the middle grade book Growing Home. You can learn more at BethFerry.com
Andrew Joyner is an Australian illustrator and cartoonist. He’s the illustrator of The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky and Roar for Reading by Beth Ferry and the author and illustrator of the Boris chapter book series. In addition to his children’s book projects, he also illustrates regularly for newspapers and magazines. Andrew lives in Strathalbyn, South Australia, with his family and nineteen pets.
I ran across...
Here's a video on Youtube from the illustrator as he demonstrates how he creates the main characters!
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