Big in size, A Lion in Paris is also big on imagination with a haunting, surreal sensitivity. You want to re-read it immediately and really explore the mixed media and collage of writer and illustrator Beatrice Alemagna.

Lion is bored with the large open grasslands of his home, so travels to Paris which is teeming with life but also scary. He is surprised at the nonchalance of people as he explores the city. This big, proud beast is sad when he is ignored but as he wanders around Paris’s landmarks, he begins to feel more at home until he finds the place for him.

Alemagna is an award-winning author and illustrator, and A Lion in Paris has itself won many awards overseas. Partly based on Alemagna’s experience of moving to another country and on a statue of a lion in Paris, this extraordinary book will find an appreciative audience for 4 and up.

Alexa Dretzke is a Children’s & YA Book Specialist at Readings Hawthorn.