August 10th is National Lion day. I have a few books on the subject.
We will start first with a tiny kids book, “Tawny, Scrawny Lion” by Katheryn Jackson. This miniature book is is the center of a handful of other miniatures, published in 1980, that my grandkids love to play with. The poor scrawny lion was alway hungry. It took a wise rabbit to fill the lion with carrot soup, to make him a happy and fat, king of the jungle.
I have a wonderful true adventure story (and rare first edition!) “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo” by Lieut.-Col. J.H. Patterson, published 1907. This is the story of Patterson supervising the building of the Tsavo railroad bridge in Kenya. There were two man-eating lions that were killing builders of the bridge, along with poor villagers along the railway. The two lions were claimed to have killed over 140 people.
Patterson had the two lions made into rugs. After he died, his wife donated the lions to the Field Museum in Chicago. They remounted the lions into a pretty cool display. I have seen them at the museum several times. I made my granddaughter see a movie, and read the book before we went to actually see them.
Patterson had a distinquished career in the Army. In World War One, he commanded the armies that would later become the Israel Defense Forces. Even as a Christian, he felt very strongly about Zionism, and was godfather to Benjamin Netinyaho’s nephew. The boy was named after him. He wrote two books about his war efforts, that I have just ordered for the library. (sorry lovely wife of mine.)
I have one more lion to talk about. I have a souvenir metal lion from Harris Bank in Chicago. It was another gift from my mother-in-law when she was getting rid of treasures. She knew that I would relish the addition. This lion was first invented in 1911 in an advertising campaign. In 1958, a new campaign gave him the name of Hubert. In 1976, there was a famous commercial of Hubert reading a book with Gary Coleman, a famous child TV actor. Everyone wanted a Hubert Lion.
And that brings us around full circle, with lions in the library.
What do you get when you cross a lion with a snowman? Frostbite.
What do you call a lion who’s a painter? Leo-nardo da Vinci.
Hope you had a roaring good time. I think it was Purr-fect.
Librarytomes 