Monty's Magnificent Mane

PreS-Gr 2—Monty is a slender, sinewy lion with a thick, red-gold mane. His meerkat friends like to play with it, tugging and tickling him until he "rumbles, grumbles, and rolls." Unfortunately his mane gets dirty and matted, and the efforts of the meerkats to restore its former splendor with braids and feathers only irritate Monty. He storms off to look at his reflection in the water hole and is lured closer by a crocodile's honeyed words. Monty barely escapes the fearsome jaws that bite a hunk out of his mane. Running for home, he realizes too late that he has led the crocodile straight to his little friends. "Even though the meerkats mess up Monty's mane sometimes, he can't let the crocodile eat them!" In a magnificent vertical spread the lion roars. The terrified croc flees, and Monty's friends are saved. O'Neill's mixed-media artwork uses bits of maps on the lion's paws, the crocodile's scales, and the birds' wings. The jungle itself is minimally evoked by green scribbles and leaf fragments, while the brown water where the crocodile lurks is strewn with bones and fish skeletons. Innovative artwork and flowing, sometimes alliterative text make this an unusually appealing story of courage and friendship.—Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN