Deep
in the Jungle
By Dan Yaccarino
Review by: Yvonne
Gaudet
Deep in the jungle is a story of the king of
the jungle. A lion, who was very rude! How was he rude? Well, he kept
telling the other creatures in the jungle that if they didn’t obey
him, he would have to eat them up. What the lion didn’t realize was
that the other animals couldn’t stand him because he was so bossy! He
had the monkeys fanning him on hot days, the leopards bringing him food,
the elephants providing shade for him, and the gorillas brushing his
mane! What a pushy fellow! One day a man entered the jungle and tricked
the lion into coming with him so he could become a star. The lion, who
was beginning to notice that he wasn’t much appreciated, jumped at the
chance of stardom, and agreed to go with the man. The other animals were
more then happy to see the lion leave! The man took the lion to a
railway station and bought him a ticket for the train. When the train
reached its destination, the lion found himself wearing a leash! He was
taken to a colorful circus tent where he was put in a cage! The lion
thought maybe this was how all new stars started out! He fell asleep in
the cage and dreamed about roaring to an ecstatic crowd, who cheered and
clapped and demanded an encore. Then he was woken abruptly by the crack
of a whip, "Show time!" the man said to him. "Why do you
have a whip?" the lion asks the man. The man explains to the lion
that it is all part of ‘showbiz’ so the lion goes along with him to
the center ring. The man began cracking his whip and ordering the lion
to do tricks for the crowd, which the lion didn’t seem to enjoy. The
lion felt as if he was doing all the work and the man was getting all
the attention. This happened night after night until the lion was fed
up! He gulped the man up and let out a loud roar which sent all the
audience running for safety. Then the lion made his escape. He followed
the train tracks back to the jungle, and to his surprise all of his
friends were locked up in cages when he arrived. The other animals said
mean things to him, because of the way he had treated them before he had
left. He was about to leave too, but then he realized what to do. He
gobbled up the man that was locking the animals up, and proceeded to
free his friends. After apologizing to his friends, he never again
roared orders at them, except of course when he was performing for
them!
I recommend this book for children
between the ages of 4-10. It teaches them to treat others the way you
would like to be treated or you may end up losing your friends, and
could possibly even be gobbled up!
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Now
