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Loading... Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Backby Shel Silverstein
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I have loved this book since i was little. its about a lion who basically trys to be welcomed into human society as a circus lion. however hes more of a human since he wears clothes and everything. he also has an obsession with marshmellows (  )hippieJ | Mar 12, 2009 |   This is one of the greatest read-aloud books, with plenty opportunity for sound effects (especially roars). Lots of fun to read, although the ending is rather serious. (  )missmath144 | Jul 1, 2008 | Lafcadio was originally published in 1963. Its content certainly wouldn't fly nowadays. Lafcadio is a lion who ate a hunter, confiscated his rifle and then how learned to shoot very accurately. He emigrated to the city and became a famous sharpshooting lion with the circus. He loved marshmellows and unleashed a mighty ROAR when he didn't get his way. Lafcadio became more man-like as he lived in the city, and he realized that he was not happy. He returned to the jungle and determined that he didn't like being a lion either. Lafcadio was torn, and the story ended with him roaming the countryside. Readers of The Giving Tree will recognize Silverstein's trademark "open" ending - allowing the reader to interpret the story's meaning. To me, the moral of the story is be careful what you wish for. But others could draw other meaningful lessons. Overall, once I got over the inclusion of guns and human death in a child's book (!), I thought the story was very lyrical and fun to read. (  )mrstreme | Apr 14, 2008 | Shel Silverstein is officially the best children's author of the moment. I'd never read this story before today, and it is just so ridiculous and so funny. The story makes me laugh and the bittersweet ending makes me smile. Go Uncle Shelby. ( )valkylee | Dec 18, 2007 | This book shares a common theme with the Sendak cautionary tale "Higglety Pigglety Pop" in which the spoiled dog Jennie leaves home in search of excitement. In Silverstein's book, a lion beset by hunters takes a gun, turns the hunter into a rug, and learns how to shoot. A circus man offers to make him rich and famous and renames him Lafcadio the Great (his previous name being "more of a lion name like, oh, maybe Grograph or Ruggrrg or Grmmff or Grrrrr.") Lafcadio follows the circus man, hoping to try something new and to score some marshmallows (he had never tasted one but loved the sound of the word marshmallow "and if they taste like they sound - mmmmmmmmmmmmm! - I just know I will love them"). So he goes off to "civilization" where he does all the things humans do: "And he became a social lion. ... And he became a literary lion. ... And he became a clothes lion." But he also became bored. One day the circus man decided to take him on a hunting trip to cheer him up ("because every cloud must have a silver lioning...") and they went to Africa. As he began shooting, his old friends recognized him and stopped him. Lafcadio no longer knew: was he a man or a lion? In the end, he walks off alone, unsure of his identity and what the future would bring. Wonderfully clever story, great illustrations (showing Lafcadio's gradual transformation), and lots of fun wordplay for both children and adults. (JAF) nbmars | Jun 15, 2007 | 0.064 seconds to build listing
Amazon.com (ISBN 0060256753, Hardcover)First published in 1963, the late Shel Silverstein's children's book debut Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back, will resonate with young readers much as it did 40 years ago. The affable narrator Uncle Shelby's story begins: "Once there was a young lion and his name was--well, I don't really know what his name was because he lived in the jungle with a lot of other lions and if he did have a name it certainly wasn't a name like Joe or Ernie or anything like that." That all changes, however, when a circus man discovers the lion's skills as a marksman (the lion took a gun from a hunter he ate) and names him Lafcadio the Great. When the circus man takes Lafcadio to New York City, the story takes on a certain Crocodile Dundee quality--the lion eats the menu at a fancy restaurant, demands marshmallows (he likes the sound of them), and is captivated by the hotel elevator. As Lafcadio becomes more civilized and rich and famous, however, he becomes more unhappy. In the end, to entertain the increasingly despondent star, the circus man takes Lafcadio hunting in Africa where he encounters his old lion friends on the other end of his gun. Is Lafcadio now a man or is he a lion? He decides he is neither and wanders alone into the valley. In typical Silverstein style, this exuberantly-silly-yet-poignant fable, illustrated with simple, expressive line drawings, asks more questions than it answers. The glee the author derives from wordplay and the sound of language is positively contagious. This read-aloud classic belongs on every child's bookshelf. (Ages 6 to 10) --Karin Snelson(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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