Lenny Loses His Lunch: A Lion’s Tale
Name of Book: Lenny Loses His Lunch: A Lion’s Tale
Author: Dan Taylor & Damon J. Taylor
Illustrator: Damon J. Taylor
Publisher: Kregel Kidzone
ISBN: 978-0825438714
Audience: ages 5 and up
Summary: Why did the lions not eat Daniel? Lenny Loses His Lunch: A Lion’s Tale provides an answer to just that question. The quintessential follower Lenny the Lion and God’s friend obedient Daniel land themselves in the lion’s/chomping den together, the last place either of them wanted to be. To save Daniel, the lion Lenny must obey God and become a leader worth following
Literary elements at within the story: Lenny Loses His Lunch: A Lion’s Tale is an imaginative interpretation of the Old Testament account of Daniel in the Lion’s Den, told from the perspective of Daniel and the lions.
Perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability: All of the human characters in the story are depicted as men, as in the biblical account. Additionally, the human characters respective a diverse population in complexion (olive, beige and dark skin) and stature (short, tall, slender, chunky). Lenny is the only lion named. The presence of manes infers that the other lions are male as well.
Scripture Connections: Daniel 6, Acts 5:29
Theological conversation partners: This story illustrates the importance of obeying and trusting God, above all, regardless of the perceived or actual cost, through the eyes of Daniel and Lenny the Lion. The two characters are faced with different obstacles to doing good and obedience to God. Throughout the book the pages are illustrated to display the tension that can be felt when someone is choosing to go against the group or living in relationship with God that their peers do not understand or believe in.
Faith Talk Questions:
- Read Daniel 6. How is it similar to Lenny Loses His Lunch? How is it different?
- Have there been situations in your life when you had to choose to obey God and not go along with your friends? What are some of these situations? What happened to you? What happened to your friends?
- What does it mean to obey God? Why is obedience to God important?
- What does it mean to be a leader worth following?
- Why do you think the author links leadership with obedience to God?
This review is written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Elizabeth Moyer.
Lenny Loses His Lunch: A Lion’s Tale by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
