🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A pure delight from start to finish, this lovely children’s book cannot help but light up your day.

Leo, our main protagonist, is a ten-year-old boy with puffy orange hair that has earned him the nickname of Lion (short for Dandelion).

Leo, a solitary and troubled boy, suffers from Selective Mutism, which means he cannot talk out loud in public spaces or in any situation in which he feels unsafe. Considered an oddity by others around him, Leo has a wonderful and compassionate family, and a deep and primal love for dancing, but with no friends outside the home, and a seriously constrained existence, Leo is both lonely and somewhat despairing of ever having a “normal” life.

All of this changes, wonderfully and heartwarmingly, when Leo meets Richa, the charming little girl who moves in next door, quickly finding a place squarely in both Leo’s, and the reader’s, heart.

Without giving the plot away (no spoilers here), Leo and Richa’s story is sweet and so lovely that this reader couldn’t help but to walk away from its lump-in-the-throat ending touched and more than a little spellbound.

With its gentle pacing, endearing characters, and tender exploration of themes and messaging such as the power of friendship; the soul-stirring resonance of compassionate diversity, (leonine) bravery and the always-possible life-line of hope, this is a book to share with a cherished child – a treasure any eight to twelve-year old would surely love to experience and welcome into a permanent place in their library.

My stop today on the @LoveBooksTours #blogtour for #CallMeLion by @CamillaCAuthor @fireflypress

A great big thank you to the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.