The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water By Idries Shah

Illustrated by Ingrid Rodriguez

A good-natured lion sees his reflection in a pool and gasps at the fierce creature staring back at him and is too frightened to drink. Children will learn through the lion how to deal positively with fears and inhibitions that so often arise from situations they as yet may not understand.
Idries Shah’s collections of Eastern oral and written literature have established the Sufi teaching-story as an educational instrument. The original version of this story was told by the 13th-century Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi.
Ingrid Rodriguez has illustrated this tale, bringing the animals to life with warmth and humor. Her illustrations are full of incidental and small details that make her style distinctive. read more

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Selected by Michigan Department of Education as part of their statewide R.E.A.D.Y. (Read, Educate and Develop Youth), program designed to make sure children have the necessary pre-reading skills (language, vocabulary, alphabet) by the time they enter school.

“My child has been struggling with anxious feelings at bedtime. After the school assembly [where the story The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water had been shared], we practiced a calming breathing technique we’d learnt, and then retold The Lion Who Saw Himself in Water together. I was surprised and relieved when he went to sleep easily for the first time in ages.” —Recounted by a mother in Ipswich, UK, to Ezra Hewing, Head of Education at the mental-health charity Suffolk Mind

“Rodriguez’s illustrations are expansive, jovial, and colorful. —School Library Journal