We're Going on a Lion Hunt

by Margery Cuyler, Joe Mathieu (Illustrator)

We’re going on a lion hunt. Time to put on your safari hats, says a teacher before leading her class on an exciting imaginary journey. Off they go! They slosh through mud, splish-splash through rivers, swish through grass, and finally come face to face with a lion! Joe Mathieu brings the lion hunt to life with delightful illustrations rendered in Prisma colors, dyes, pen, and ink that add to this classroom fantasy based on a traditional game.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Storytime, School, Fiction, Pre K

34 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Margery Cuyler is the author of many books for children, including From Here to There, The Little Dump Truck, and That’s Good! That’s Bad! The idea for That’s Good! That’s Bad! was inspired by a conversation with her son, Thomas, who asked, "Can't bad things change into good things?" Ms. Cuyler grew up in the oldest house in Princeton, NJ, and started writing stories as soon as she learned how to write. She now lives in the same house with her husband, sons and two cats.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/marger...

Reviews

[Taylor Volker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A class decides to take a lion hunt which involves going through sticks, mud, tall grass, etc. They eventually come to a large, dark cave where they feel a cold, wet object. The find out its a lion and must run back to the classroom, but they have to go back through all the obstacles they had to face going to the cave. This book has a lot of repetition which gets the kids repeating with the reader. It also gets the kids active by swishing through the grass, climbing a tree, etc.

[Chloe DeRocker · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. Awards the book has received: none

2. Appropriate grade level: 1st

3. Original summary: Join the class as they travel in search of a lion! There may be some obstacles along the way so look out! Will they make it back to class safe and sound?

4. Original review: "We're Going on a Lion Hunt" adapted by Margery Cuyler is a musical journey through a child's imagination. The illustrations by Joe Mathieu are cute and the words are easy enough to follow for the first grade level. I felt that some of the lyrics were a little out of rhythm which affected the way the words sounded out loud.

5. One possible in-class use for this book is to get the jitters out. This is a really good book for a class that may be high in energy with no good place to release it.
I can also see this book being used for sequencing practice. After reading, the teacher could take images from the book and mix them up. Students would have to put them in order: first, second, third, etc.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows the same theme as the classic 'Going on a Bear Hunt.' The thing I found interesting about this book is it's like the audience of the book is sucked in like their part of the class that's actually going on the hunt. Of course, there is a lot of repetition throughout the book- Can't go over it. Can't go under it. Can't go around it. Have to go through it. This is effective with younger students. Even if they can't read, by having the repetition read aloud to them as they look at the words, the students will start to associate the two and eventually learn the words. There are also several onomatopoeias in the book (swish, splish-splash, and slog). This could be a helpful resource if a teacher was doing a lesson on literary devices. This could also be used to let children release some built-up energy. Overall, I am not the attended audience for this book; however, it gets three stars because it could be used in many different ways from a teacher's apsect.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another version of the song my kids are obsessed with. On the plus side, the book establishes that this is make-believe, that an adult isn't really leading kids on a lion hunt. On the other hand the teacher doesn't seem to care about kids drowning in the river (I know, I know, I just said it's make-believe. It's still a weird visual.) And why are they climbing trees? I don't understand the choice of what gets a two-page spread, what gets one page, and what gets part of a page. So, it's okay, but it's not my favorite version. Or my kids'.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling of the traditional story 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt'. This is a great book to share with the class as children can join with the actions such as splish, splash, squelch and squelch. It introduce children to onomatopoeia words-as a class childrencould write their own story of hunting for another animal using other onomatopoeia words. Lovely use of oil pastels for the illustrations.

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

as a kid .... i remember a song ... about running through the woods, running from some one ... it was very interactive ... so fun but i don't recall what song it was? but this book was in my opinion so similar ... i wonder?? i am i am 41 years old so i hope i will find it soon ... i keep googling ...but no luck yet??! great read, fun, entertaining and fun illustrations.

[catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

That they weren’t afraid . The excitement of reading through the book . the book was brilliant because me and my mum enjoyed it and I thought that they were going to get eaten but it was so funny😁😁😁😁😍😍🏳️‍🌈🧡

[Nadina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second "We're Going on a Lion Hunt" book I read and while this one had more it was still just average. The illustrations were cute and the text was simple. Good for kids starting to read on their own.

[MANDY DAVIS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Classic

Much like the classic sing song rhyme from childhood this was a great classic book and my 5 year old son loved it.

[Christen S Bagwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story

My kids loved it because it reminded them of the Going on a Bear Hunt song! Great for toddlers and young kids!

[timothy pennell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it a lot

Very cute
My brother loved it it is just like from a bear hunt so much like going on a bear hunt

[Andrea Fleury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hunting for a lion..

Very sweet little story. Wait till you see what is at the end. Great illustrations.Great for kids of all ages.

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lion hunt delight

Love the repetition and the lovely expressions on all the children’s faces! Great story indeed. Read it to your children and grandchildren

[DARLENE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I Liked We're Going on a Lion Hunt

Great story for kids with nice pictures. Really kept the kids interested as you read along together. I ranked this book a 4 for this reason.

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid but not amazing

[Carolyn Jeziorski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid read-aloud for preschool and kindergarten. I’d recommend having kids repeat after you and doing motions during the story. Kids immediately connected it to the bear hunt song/story.

[Milton Louie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lion hunt! B

[Paul Carrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun for all ages!

I grew up with this playful story; it's so great that I can now share it with my grandson! He'll love it!

[Smhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy Book

My daughter and I loved it. It is very interactive and adventurous.we feel like running away. Love the illustrations on this book

[Team Bass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute Story!

My littles ones loved it! Ages 1-8 were engaged and moved about wildly with the story! Fun for everyone - Mama too! 😊

[Farleyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for arts and crafts as well as books with movement.

[Elizabeth Sweet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Talks about different biomes and is fun sing-songy to read

[Shamaa Farah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids in a classroom went on a field trip on a safari. It had a lot of repetitive words and sounds for your young readers to sound out loud. It was a cute story for kids to explore nature and the outdoors. It has a lot of onomatopoeia

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun. The teacher helps the kids use their imaginations.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about a class who uses their imaginations to find a lion. They have to go through many obstacles to get there, and repeated phrases are used. It is a bit long but a nice book.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I prefer Going on a Bear Hunt, We're Going on a Lion Hunt is also a very fun book. In We're going on a Lion Hunt, a teacher and her students take a trip through the safari to try to find a lion that they are not afraid of. They come to many obstacles and have to find a way to get through them. Eventually, there goal is met as they find a lion, and they must quickly return to the safety of their classroom.
My favorite things about these books are the onomatopoeia. This would be a great book to use even in upper elementary to teach onomatopoeia. It would also be interesting to have students come up with different obstacles that they children face and they have to come up with the onomatopoeia that would go with getting through there obstacle. If I were teaching this book in a younger class or with my own children, I think it would be fun to act it out. It would be fun to act as if you are going through mud, climbing trees, and going through a river. Since there is a dwindling of the arts programs, it would also be nice to make a dance of this story to get children up and moving in the classroom.
The illustrator, Joe Mathieu, uses pencil and watercolor and really makes this story fun to look at. The pictures are bright and colorful and cartoon-like, all things that help children get into stories. I really hope the teacher in the story is pointing out all of the other animals they are seeing on the safari because there are really seeing so much more then the lion that they are looking for.
Since I am a fan of the onomatopoeia, I would have liked to have some of it on the return trip as well. Maybe that is something that as a teacher or mother I would add in as we are doing the acting. I would be interesting to see if the children remember which onomatopoeia went with which obstacle.
I would recommend this book to preschool -2nd grade (unless I am teaching onomatopoeia to older students). I feel the repetition and the sound effects are great for this age group. The students will really get into the this book, I feel a read along would be especially fun.

[Lisa Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an adorable book for children who love to use their imaginations! I chose this as a concept book because it teaches directionality. "Can't go over it. Can't go under it. Can't go around it. Have to go through it." Each page has a different obstacle that the teacher and her class have to pass, and each time they have to follow different directions. To learn movements and to follow directions are important for children. It would be wonderful for children to reinact this story in the classroom with the teacher providing directions on how to get past the obstacles. This story seems to have been told before, but I still feel as though it is appropriate for a young child.

[Katie Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

"We're Going on a Lion Hunt" by Margery Cuyler is a story about a class that uses there imagination and goes on a trip to find a lion. This book is a great independent reader. It has simple words and many repeated phrases. This book was alright but it really did not teach much other than to improve children's reading skills. It would be more of a recreational book for a child to read rather than a book to read to a class full of students.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd really like to try this with toddlers just to see how it goes but I think it might be too long even though I really liked the movements that go along with it. So I'm thinking preschool age group. About a classroom of kids following their teacher through grass over sticks and other obstacles looking for a lion. They're not scared and I loved the sound and movement that went along with each part of the hunt.

[Kristy Schwertfeger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book about going on a lion hunt. The book has a lot of sounds that i like and i think children will like too. It feels like you are actually on the safari and hearing the noises. The book also has phrases that repeat so the children can start to help you say the parts of the story together.