Saroo Brierley (text) and Bruce Whatley (illustrator), Little Lion: A Long Way Home, Penguin Random House Australia, November 2020, 40 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780143795094
The well-known story of Saroo Brierley’s long search for his family and his home town is now available in picture book form for young readers. With a long written text, Saroo’s story is illustrated with Whatley’s exquisite illustrations. Beginning in India when Saroo was a little boy, we meet his family and learn what his life was like, harsh and poverty stricken, but happy. He then travels to Calcutta, as it was known then, by train after falling asleep in an empty carriage, waiting for his big brother.
After sleeping on the streets, he is rescued and taken to an orphanage, where he is adopted by a couple in Tasmania, Australia. While growing up in a loving household Saroo never forgets his family and after many painstaking hours using Google Earth, he eventually locates his hometown. Whatley’s illustrations, ranging from small black and white vignettes to large colour illustrations, portray Saroo’s journey and life in a realistic and heartfelt way. The sense of place is evoked realistically, as are the emotions of the characters. This is a story of hope and perseverance made accessible to a younger audience through picture book form.
Little Lion: A long way home not only brings this story to life for a younger set of readers and makes the genre of memoirs and true stories a little more accessible to this age range.
Reviewed by Liz Derouet
