Lovely Old Lion

K-Gr 3—Young Lenny loves his grandfather, King Lion, very much. But Lenny has noticed that his grandpa is beginning to change from his once proud, kind, and stately self to a tired, forgetful, and sometimes not-so-kind fellow. Lenny gains understanding with a little help from Hippo, who explains that as King Lion gets old, "bits of him are wearing out" and that his brain isn't working quite as well as it did and so he forgets things. Lenny's marble collection, a gift from Grandpa, lets King Lion recall some enjoyable experiences from his youth. Aging, however, is inevitable, as is growing up. Later, when Lenny becomes king, with his own son, he always remembers his grandfather. And he reminds the young animals "to be kind to their grandpas and grandmas, and to help them remember." Though purposeful, the gentle telling bypasses explicit death and the harsher parts of dealing with aging. Images, rendered by the illustrator of Badger's Parting Gift (HarperCollins, 1984), of the animal kingdom are equally gentle.