Lion Needs A Haircut, a great dads and kids story

Kids and haircuts go together like love and marriage. Now tweak the words a bit, put a Rat Pack crooner behind the singing and you’ve got the theme to Married With Children. Lion Needs A Haircut by author/illustrator Hyewon Yum is an illustrated book that looks at a father and son who have more than one thing in common. The story is one that parents to any child who is close to four years old will understand very well.

The young lion is headstrong, quite confident that he’s correct, a messy eater and has a head of hair with a mind of its own. Dad simply points out that his son’s hair is messy and out of control. He assures his younger self that Barber Goat won’t cut him and lets him know that razors aren’t anything to fear either. Like some conversations with a four year-old it devolves into a couple of shouts, with dad, being the king of jungle and all, ultimately winning.

And to the victor, goes the spoils, in this case, it’s a haircut. Ironically, on the way to see Barber Goat we learn that like most kids, the younger one just wanted to be like their parent, in this case, the dad. Dad acknowledges that he’s a handsome guy and thinks that his son wants to be like him simply due to that fact. However, when dad attempts to give him a hug and his son recoils due to prickly, out of control hair that’s on his face and head things get real.

Suddenly dad realizes that his hair is just like his son’s, albeit on a different scale. He has mustard in his beard. His hair is unkempt and he utterly looks like a slob. When the two kindred, sloppy-haired souls arrive at Barber Goat’s place there’s an almost smug look on the son’s face. Sensing that his son might be a bit nervous and having years of experience on his side, dad volunteers to go first.

Not surprisingly, at the end of it all they both look much more handsome and presentable. Lion Needs A Haircut is a book that, much like the act of the thing that’s cut off of your head, grows on you. The first time I read it the book was pleasant, but by the third or fourth time I picked up on the pacing and way that it should be read. Initially it seemed a bit long to be a good-night book. Once you read it aloud you’ll channel the frustration that dad has in simply trying to explain to his child that it’s only a haircut.

It’ll grow back. It looks horrible now, can’t be combed and this is a very simple thing, just listen to me. Of course, parents with kids of a certain age will immediately understand and feel the pain of this lion dad and his cub.

The art in Lion Needs A Haircut has an old school feel that will draw readers in. If older readers come into the book knowing how to ebb and flow with the conversation it’ll be a slam dunk upon its first read. Even those kids who experience it with a clunky read-a-along will love the art and laugh at the story. That second read could be where the magic happens for them.

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