LitPick Review
When Lester the Lion’s alarm clock goes off, he jumps out of bed and can’t wait to head to school. The school is partaking in Fire Prevention Week and Lester is so excited because he can’t wait to see all the things he’s going to learn this week. One of the events is an assembly with two local firefighters, a cat and a lion, and they will teach the students all different things like Stop, Drop, and Roll if your clothes are on fire, or how to call 911 when you see an emergency situation happening. The firefighters stress that it is important to note that calling 911 is only to be used when a real emergency has occurred.
Lester finishes his school day and can’t wait to get home to play with his toys. He sets them up like they are firefighters tackling a fire and while he’s doing this, he gets an idea. He goes and gets his mom’s cell phone and decides to call the real 911, totally disregarding what he learned in school today with the visiting firefighters. When he hangs up, Lester doesn’t realize just how serious the situation will become for him calling 911 when there truly isn’t an emergency situation happening. What happens after Lester hangs up from speaking to a 911 operator? What does Lester learn from this important situation?
Opinion:
I really loved how author Donna M. Cramer approached this serious topic of teaching children that you only call 911 when there is a serious emergency where people need help immediately. It’s not a number to call when you are playing games with your toys or even when you are playing games with your friends. Calling 911 when there isn’t an emergency wastes the valuable time of emergency crew members, and they could be using that precious time to be answering a true emergency call. I feel her approach to teaching children was fun, while also delivering a serious message without being preachy, so that children will absorb the lesson being taught without feeling overwhelmed by it.
The characters the author created, all wrapped around the feline family, were unique and adorable. I’ve never read a story where all the emergency workers were felines of some sort. So reading this children’s book made me feel as if I was reading something fresh and unique. I feel children will get a kick out of the fact that all the firefighters were different cats!
The illustrations provided by Ann Aubitz were colorful and extremely fun to look at. They encompassed each page and fully illustrated the story being told on that page. I, as an adult, loved stopping and looking at the pictures, so I feel children will equally be enthralled by looking at Lester and the other characters telling the story. Each illustration was the perfect accompaniment to the story the author wanted to tell her readers.
I also loved how the author decided to include a list of 911 Tips for Kids in which she teaches important things such as: “Call if a fire is burning out of control,” or “Call if someone is seriously hurt: if they cannot get up or if they are choking or having trouble breathing.” I especially liked the fact that another one of the tips she told children was: “Be sure to say your name and know your address.” These tips are the perfect way to instill in children the proper scenarios which call upon someone needing to truly call 911 to help someone in an emergency.
Overall, Lester Lion Calls 911 is the perfect children’s book to add to your children’s library. It brings the message across that calling 911 is a serious thing to do and you do it only when it is extremely necessary. Calling 911 just for fun and games is strictly something that should never be done and if you do, you’ll be taking emergency workers away from another call which truly needs their emergency services. This is one book that comes highly recommended by this reviewer!
