School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

K-Gr 3 Lucas Lion is a grown-up lion who teaches children and enjoys sports and doing the everyday activities that most adults do. While Lucas is up on a ladder fixing his roof, he falls. His spine is permanently injured, and he has to move home with his parents who must do everything for him as he learns to adapt to life in a wheelchair. Adjusting is difficult for the lion until his friends, a monkey, elephant, zebra, and giraffe, cheer him up, buy him a special car, and encourage him to get back to work. Lucas learns to change his attitude about what he thought he could no longer do and begins to do these things by himself once again. Bright, cheery, child-friendly illustrations detail how life for someone with a spinal cord injury has to adjust and also how sometimes things are not always so easy for people with disabilities to maneuver. This book will spur on excellent conversations and provoke much thought and empathy. In the back matter, photographs of the author show how this story parallels his own life. VERDICT Highly recommended as a first purchase for all libraries.Tracy Cronce, Stevens Point Pub. Sch. District, WI

ALA Booklist (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

In a semi-autobiographical account originally published in his native Slovenian, Plohl follows the progress of Lucas rtrayed as an anthropomorphic lion in Šonc's simple cartoon illustrations ter he loses the use of his legs in an accident and begins using a wheelchair. Lucas, unsure if he'll ever be able to play sports again or even keep his teaching job, is forced to move back in with his parents. His dejection doesn't last long, though, as his school principal soon calls to ask when he's coming back, supportive friends crowd around, and he not only relearns how to care for himself from day to day (with a part-time helper) but finds new ways to cycle, ski, go scuba diving, and even dance. These latter pursuits are not depicted (a sequel, Lucas at the Paralympics, is currently scheduled for June), but the upbeat message that disability doesn't mean helplessness comes through clearly, is applicable to readers of any age, and is nicely reinforced by a closing set of photos showing the author busy at home and on the road.

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

An anthropomorphic adult lion adjusts to using a wheelchair.After Lucas falls from a ladder, injuring his spine, his doctors explain that he'll never walk again. Lucas, who loves cycling, driving, and teaching, fears he can no longer enjoy such activities in a wheelchair. Furthermore, he's sad to move in with his parents, who do all his cooking, cleaning, and grooming. Fortunately, friends from many species come to the rescue, cheering him up and raising funds for an adapted car, and Lucas gradually learns to do housework and self-care from his chair. Finding wheelchair-accessible housing is difficult, but Lucas eventually "[gets] lucky" and finds an apartment building with a ramp, an elevator, and new friends who are "happy to help." The final illustration finds Lucas holding paws with his mother, who "doesn't have to worry [about him] anymore!" Plohl's matter-of-fact treatment of barriers feels simultaneously refreshingly honest and somewhat rushed; highlighting the scarcity of such basic needs as accessible shelter without further exploration risks casting inaccessibility as a norm rather than a product of human decisions and designs that exclude disabled people. However, along with Å onc's sunny cartoon illustrations, Plohl's simple declarative sentences will reassure newly disabled readers in particular that independence is possible. The Slovenian author's biography explains that, like Lucas, he became paraplegic after a ladder accident; color photos show him performing everyday activities.A gently encouraging tale of navigating disability. (Picture book. 4-8)