Reviews: (by author)

Waber, Bernard. A Lion Named Shirley Williamson.

Outstanding , up there with Hoban's How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen as long picture books with funny plots, lively prose, and plentiful humorous illustrations. For early elementary school reading, it's a sure hit. Waber's zoo-based home-away-home story does take the lion back where she began, or at least back to the zoo that's become her home, but she stops here and there in various places along the way, including zoo-keeper Seymour's house and, in memory, back to Africa. The humor and swift plot make for a charming piece of fiction.

Shirley Williamson gets her name by accident. The name sets her apart from the other lions, all males, who have silly undignified names, and she gets also gets special treatment from Seymour. Her name is the problem?for the jealous other lions. In response to their malaise, she is renamed Bongo. This indignity leads indirectly to her leaving the zoo. The climax is her heralded return, the welcoming crowds shouting "Shirley, Shirley," rather than "Bongo, Bongo." Shirley Williamson gets her name back, and, at the same time, the aforementioned badly-named lions get new names too.

Highly recommended. I'm using this in my children's literature class.

A.A. Nov. '02

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