Nani and the Lion

Grouchy and despotic Lion prowls the edge of young Nani’s village, frightening its human inhabitants and the other animals alike. “I am Lion, lord of the land! No one dares make noise in King Lion’s land!” […] Everyone is frightened, but the clever protagonist knows what will soothe the savage beast. Williams’s (Steptoe winner and Newbery honoree for Genesis Begins Again, rev. 1⁄19) text has the cadence of a folktale, with ear-pleasing sound effects and patterns and featuring a satisfying resolution. Cunha’s (illustrator of Indigo Dreaming, rev. 9⁄22) beautifully textured and colorful digital illustrations center her characteristic rosy-cheeked, brown-skinned humans—and one very expressive big cat. – Horn Book * January/February 2026 Issue *Near an African village, a lion lurks in the grasslands, frightening people and animals alike, until a little drummer girl changes the big cat’s tune. […] Cunha’s digital inks balance warm and cool tones, vibrantly contrasting human characters’ brown skin, brightly patterned dresses, and textured foliage with pink and yellow clouds and the dark blues of the forest. Each page turn leads to yet another artful spread. […] As Nani ventures further out to find a space safe for her boisterous art, the world around her shifts and grows; she encounters polka-dotted giraffes and “aardwolves.” But when the lion makes himself known with thunderous roars and crushed flowers beneath his paws, the subtext of this colorful allegory about confronting bullies becomes most potent. […] The scene of the villagers rejoicing, their arms splayed wide above their heads, with a botanical foreground and a pink mountainous sky behind them, is exuberantly charming. The image of Nani and a slumbering lion that follows offers a serene but cohesive contrast to conclude the story. A lion-taming tale with rhythm and heart. – Kirkus * December 1, 2025 *

Alicia D. Williams is the author of Mid-Air, which was longlisted for the National Book Award; Genesis Begins Again, which received Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and for which she won the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent; and picture books Jump at the Sun, Nani and the Lion, and The Talk, which was also a Coretta Scott King Honor book. An oral storyteller in the African American tradition, she lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Anna Cunha is a Brazilian illustrator, living and working in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She has illustrated more than twenty books for Brazilian and foreign publishers, been nominated for the 2022 Kate Greenaway Medal, and won the AEILIJ Prize for her work. She is the illustrator of Fly by Brittany J. Thurman and Nani and the Lion by Alicia D. Williams.