But honestly, author Louise Fatio’s entire textual premise regarding The Happy Lion (or Der glückliche Löwe, as it is called in German) has always managed to rather feel at best a bit unnatural and at worst quite troubling, both now and also when I had Der glückliche Löwe repeatedly read to me in 19, when I was three and four years of age (that the lion resides in a zoo, and is all by himself in his rather sparse enclosure, is completely solitary, and that he, that the lion is also seemingly more happy with this kind of an existence than on the plains of Africa, which are actually presented by the author, are depicted by Louise Fatio in The Happy Lion as somehow and strangely being toon hot, too dangerous and perhaps thus even unsuitable for lions).Īnd well, although I still very much enjoyed the general plotline and the antics of the lion on his romp through the picturesque and nameless French town when my grandmother read the German version, when she read Der glückliche Löwe to three and four year old me, she certainly could not (or perhaps would not) answer my questions as to why a lion residing in a zoo all by himself was supposedly content and happy (and seemingly more contented, more fulfilled than if he lived in wild freedom in Africa). He was born in Switzerland in 1904 and died in New Jersey in 1980.So yes and indeed, I certainly have always adored Roger Duvoisin's expressive illustrations for the 1954 picture book The Happy Lion (especially their muted, yet nevertheless glowing colour schemes, and a lion with such sweet, pensive facial features). He collaborated with his wife, Louise Fatio, on nine more Happy Lion stories. Roger Duvoisin, a Caldecott Medal winner, wrote and illustrated 40 books, including those featuring Veronica the conspicuous hippopotamus and Petunia the silly goose.

She was born in Switzerland in 1904 and died in New Jersey in 1993.

Long unavailable, it was reissued in a hardcover edition to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2004. Louise Fatio collaborated with her famous illustrator husband, Roger Duvoisin, on The Happy Lion, one of the most beloved stories of the mid-20th century. 'The 50th anniversary of a classic'-Cover.ġ v. When the door to his house at the zoo is left open a lion decides to visit his friends, but he quickly learns that people are not nearly as polite or friendly in town as when they visit him at the zoo.

The Happy Lion by Louise Fatio