Move over, reindeer, a new cat’s coming to Christmas.Ī home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature. Iris, her family, and Santa all present white. Stephens’ pictures have a cartoon quality to them, and they amplify the warm, gentle humor of the text as they alternate between vignettes and full bleeds, culminating in a relaxed family scene by the Christmas tree at Auntie Sarah’s. But the intrepid feline follows the railroad tracks back to a village, where, after humorous encounters with carolers and Santa himself, he is finally reunited with Iris. When he awakens, he’s far from Auntie Sarah’s house.

Unfortunately, he sleeps through the moment when Iris’ family gets off the train. No one notices him, in part because he falls asleep on the journey and therefore is quiet. Iris is saddened, and her sadness spurs the lion into action: After she and her family leave home, he follows and hides in the overhead luggage rack on the train. But even though “all the townspeople loved him,” Iris’ mother says the big cat can’t accompany them to Auntie Sarah’s house for Christmas because others on the train and in the town they’re visiting would be frightened. There’s little backstory to explain to readers unfamiliar with How To Hide a Lion (2013) how the lion came to live with Iris and her family. There’s no hiding Iris’ love for her pet lion.

How to hide a lion by helen stephens