
"Never look a lion in the eye,” a mother
tells her fearless girl. After a field trip to the
Gir Forest, the girl learns all about the rare
Asiatic lions of India, and from that day on
she dreams of taking care of them when she
grows up. But not everyone thinks a girl has
a right to such a dream, and so she stifles
what she wishes for most—but a roar grows
inside her. The girl grows up to become a
forester at the very place she first fell in love
with the lions. It is a dangerous job. Not only
is she the first woman to hold such a job,
roaming and roaring about on a motorbike
in the forest at night, she is good at it—
saving injured lionesses, trapped leopards,
abandoned cubs—inspiring more gutsy
women to join the ranks of the Lion Queens.
The day the girl comes face to face with a
lion, she looks him in the eye. And then she
roars back.
This empowering and poetic picture book
is inspired by the story of a real-life Lion
Queen, Rasila Vadher, The First Woman Guardian of the Last Asiatic Lions
A stirring story of persistence and courage. Kirkus.
The Lion Queen
