A simple, imaginative story depicting the complex emotional reality of a girl whose father no longer lives at home.

The girl conjures up an imaginary companion - a lion - who will join her on the long walk home from school. He will help her to pick up her baby brother from daycare and shop at the store (which has cut off the family's credit), and he'll keep her company all along the way until she is safely home. He will always come back when she needs him, unlike her father whom she sees only in a photograph - a photograph in which he clearly resembles a lion.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

A little girl imagines a lion taking the place of her father who no longer lives with her family, an animal that keeps her safe on her travels from school to home.