A fresh retelling of one of the most popular Aesop's fables. The art was created digitally and features bright, vibrant colors, and each page, including the cover, has die-cut holes and peek-through windows of different shapes and sizes to heighten readers' curiosity. The book is heartwarming and touching-especially when the mouse rescues the lion in the end, and children will find it accessible. This edition is certain to delight readers and listeners with a valuable life lesson. It would be ideal for storytimes involving the themes of courage, friendship, and compassion. --School Library Journal This adaptation of Aesop's tale gets new life from a slight change in the original storyline and clever paper engineering. The altered story makes for a far more compassionate lion, who never threatens to eat the mouse and in fact empathizes with her. The real draw, though, is the art, wherein die-cut holes redeploy illustrative elements (the spot on a butterfly's wing is later revealed to be the lion's eye) and a pierced partial-page flap constitutes the net and allows little hands to play the role of liberator by lifting the page.

The digitally rendered images have a collage-like joy in texture and planes of color to enliven their graphic simplicity. This is a strong addition to the fables shelf that will provide plenty of visual and tactile stimulation for young viewers. --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.