Tell Me a Lion Story

The reader becomes the storyteller in this funny, interactive picture book by author-illustrator Kara Kramer.

Tell me a story—a new one—and make it about a ______!

In this clever, inventive picture book, a child asks their father to tell them a story. But not just any old story, a new story. “And make it about a lion!” The dad begins, but the child interrupts again and again: “The lion doesn’t have to be SOOO BIG.” “Why is the lion so small? Doesn’t he eat dinner?” “Fred? I can think of a hundred zillion better names to give a lion!” Finally, Dad suggests telling the lion story together, and the reader is invited to fill in the blanks—and join in the fun. With lively, stylish artwork and plenty of space for imaginations old and young to add to the story, Tell Me a Lion Story is sure to become a go-to favorite.

Kara Kramer is an artist who loves to be in the creative process. In Tell Me a Lion Story, which is her first picture book as author-illustrator, she invites the reader into that process as well. “It’s a story continually being re-created by the reader,” she says of the book. “It’s a story open to infinite possibilities!” Kara Kramer is also the illustrator of the picture books Atticus Caticus by Sarah Maizes and Make Meatballs Sing: The Life and Art of Corita Kent by Matthew Burgess. She lives and plays with her family in Brooklyn.