Hamish

By Kathryn Jackson
 * //Tawny Scrawny Lion//**

The //Tawny Scrawny Lion// was written by Kathryn Jackson, who has written many other Little Golden Books including: //Saggy Baggy Elephant//, //Scruffy the tugboat//, //Poky Little Puppy//, //The Animals Merry Christmas// and many others. The Story itself was published in 1952 in America, just after the conclusion of WWII, at the beginning of the American Baby boom. It is then fair to say that because of this period of rapid growth the story based its message around trying different things, expecting the unexpected, making unexpected friends. The fact that a hungry lion becomes best friends with a fat little rabbit teaches people in these relieving yet stressful times that friends can be made in strange places. As well as providing entertainment for the anticipated baby boom.

I chose this book because it was one of my childhood favourites. To me, the story has many, many meanings and is just as much a parable as a story. The story teaches how friends can be made in very different positions and how if you try something new you may come to like it. This is how I found out about the story, when my mum read it to me when I was a baby to get me to eat my food. I also find several other meanings about how some people can be deceiving, like how the other animals wanted to get the rabbit eaten and didn’t expect him to become friends. How pride and risk taking behaviour can put you in tough, difficult situations.

There are many meanings in the book that can be interpreted many different ways by many different people. What it comes down to, I feel, is that don't underestimate anybody, no matter what they do. It can be easy to be lured into things when you think you will be rewarded in the end. Friends can be made in strange places and just because you don’t like the sound of something doesn't mean that it you won’t like it if you give it a try. The pictures are very literal, which shows the direct literal meaning of the story, but alows the basic pictures alows the reader to paint there own.