Thank you NetGalley and Capstone, Picture Window Books for accepting my request to read and review Liam the Lion.

Author: Andrew Stark
Published: 01/01/23
Genre: Children's Fiction

This was a miss for me. The author begins with Meet Liam Kingbird. It is a setup and could be a cover page, an advertisement, or a quiz.

The child has a cleft lip, not readily noticeable. There is the illustration and the glossary at the back of the book that mentions cleft. I had a problem with the mom speaking a different language for one phrase that Liam addressed in English. The author mentions a reservation, and again if you don't read the glossary and ending notes you miss tribal and language information that needed to be in the story. These were my biggest problems.

The illustrations are nice; however I feel like they are forced to fit the author's narrative. That's great, however, the author didn't make a point with me.

Liam the Lion is a tale of a third grade student on his first day at a new school. What makes Liam remarkable is that he is bilingual speaking Ojibwa language and English. He has a creative talent as an artist too. Liam is nervous to attend his new school and hopes to make a friend. He meets a classmate and the encounter doesn't go as well as Liam hoped. You'll have to read to find out if Liam makes friends and settles in to his new school. This book is good for readers who are ready for beginning chapter books. Liam is a character most readers would want to befriend. Readers will also learn a bit about a different culture. The plot ended a bit abruptly for me; however, the ending was positive and uplifting. The illustrations are generally good. I especially liked the character trait page. It pictured a full length Liam and sentences describing Liam's qualities and traits were presented alongside. This book isn't as strong as an addition as the Yasmin series, but it may have a place in your collection. I would consider adding this to larger library collections or libraries in need of indigenous characters told from own voices authors.

Liam the Lion is a very cute book about Liam, a kid who goes to a new school. He's a good kid but due to a condition he had on birth his schoolmates make fun of him but he finds a way to not feel sad about it. This book is for older kids (Liam is a third grader) but it's really really good. I liked it a lot.

Some books don't have to have the best illustrations, the most amazing text, or be on the best seller list to really pack a powerful punch and this is one of those stories that delivers lessons that are heartwarming and important for kids to hear.

The main character Liam is a you Indigenous boy in third grade. Liam has a cleft lip and is terrified to start the year at a new school. He doesn't think he will make any friends because he looks different. When his new classmates ask about his lip, Liam immediately thinks that he is being made fun of for his looks. But he quickly realizes that is not the case and learns to love who he is. What makes us unique makes us special and that is something to be celebrated. Physical differences are truly celebrated here and are not shown in an ablest light. The author has deliberately chosen a physical difference that is very visible to help teach children that just because someone may look different on the outside, it doesn't change who they are on the inside and they can be great friends no matter what they look like.

The representation of an Indigenous main character is also critically important. The author was raised in Michigan on an Ojibwa Reservation and brought elements of his own childhood and culture into the book. The illustrator is also an Indigenous woman as well, making this entire book a celebration of Indigenous culture and representation within the children's book world.

I thought that this story was good and I liked the plot and the way that it was told too

The book had some nice illustrations, they brought the story to life

The story was a nice read and I liked the ending but there was something about the story that was lacking for me, it just didn't have a really wow or oomph factor to it to give it anything more as a rating from me

It is 3.5 stars from me for this one rounded up to 4 stars for Goodreads and Amazon