St. Jerome and the Lion

by Margaret Hodges

Book Overview

An illustrated retelling of the legend of Saint Jerome and the lion that he sheltered in his monastery. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0531059383
• ISBN13: 9780531059388
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Orchard Books (NY)
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.8" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Story of a Saint and His Pet Lion

Sometimes jacket covers say it all so succinctly that it is hard not to want to copy it as your own description of the book. "A wrong is righted and an injustice forgiven in Margaret Hodge's lyrical retelling of the legend of gentle St. Jerome and the lion that was his companion. Filled with revelatory slivers of light, Barry Moser's graceful, stately paintings illuminate an incident in the life of the saint, and the ardent following he inspired." On every two open pages, one page has the text of the story while the other has a life like picture related to the story. It's about the faithfulness of a lion to St. Jerome after he took out a thorn in a lion's paw. It's also a lesson on judging others wrongly. A great story for kids.

Beautifully-illustrated legend of St. Jerome

If you're lucky enough to run across this book, you'll be very happy to have it in your collection of children's books. The predominantly-dark but gorgeous illustrations are entirely in keeping with the sombre tone of the story as Margaret Hodges beautifully retells the legend of St. Jerome:A wounded lion finds his way to the Bethehem monastery, and among the monks there only quiet, gentle Jerome is unafraid. He helps the lion and befriends him, defending his seeming unfitness for living in the monastery, telling the monks, "God must have sent the lion for our good." Falsely accused of killing the donkey under his guard, the lion is put to work performing the donkey's chores. After a year, the lion finds the donkey and brings her home to the monastery--along with the caravan of camels belonging to the merchants who had stolen the donkey. The merchants give half of their inventory of Egyptian oil to the brothers at the monastery and promise a gift of oil for the monks' lamps for posterity. The book carries a strong message that one should reserve judgment against the accused until proof is found. It's a wonderful book and easy to read--simply written with basic vocabulary. Barry Moser's illustrations are so lovely: detailed yet lacking excessive visual distractions, and photographic in quality--watercolor pictures painted by a real artist, definitely not the cartoon-illustrations all too typical of children's books today. St. Jerome is the monk who two thousand years ago translated the Bible into Latin, making the biblical scriptures accessible for most of the world's literate people of the time. The book is dedicated, in part, "to librarians, because Jerome is their patron saint."