Suitabook
The Lion who Wouldn’t Try
Liza Woodward
CC BY 4.0Credits & Licence
Originally published by Book Dash. Writer: Liza Woodward. Illustrator: André Kieswetter. Designer: Nick Mulgrew. Editor: Liz Sparg.
Cover resized and converted to WebP; artwork unchanged. Suitabook’s AI guidance is a separate assessment.
Original Book on Book Dash: The Lion who Wouldn’t Try (opens in a new tab)- Reading
- Pause at Lion’s repeated refusals and invite your child to notice his expression. At the ending, ask what Mouse might be doing with the banana peel, keeping the final image open to interpretation.
- Themes
- Hesitation and trying: Lion declines several invitations, saying he will lose, then eventually joins the animals’ play. The story shows Lion moving from refusal to participation, but does not explain why he expects to lose or present a stated lesson about trying.
- Being apart from a group: The other animals play while Lion watches alone; Mouse notices his sadness and asks him about it. The story acknowledges Lion’s sadness, but does not show the animals responding to his refusals as deliberate exclusion.
- Worth knowing
- Lion is shown sitting sadly while the others swim without him. His slip on a banana peel is played for laughter, and he appears happy afterwards; the scene includes a comic fall.