When a lioness steals her four chicks from her, Mother Ostrich is distraught, appealing to every animal she meets for assistance, until finally the mongoose steps in to help her get her children back. Originally included in Aardema's 1969 collection, Tales for the Third Ear, this Masai folktale is a simple, straightforward story, with a somewhat anticlimactic ending.

Although not as involving as some of Aardema's other folktale adaptations, The Lonely Lioness and the Ostrich Chicks did have some moments of humor, as when the gazelle responds to Mother Ostrich's plea by saying: "I wouldn't argue with a lioness if she said the moon was her cub." Yumi Heo's illustrations are a charming mixture of elongated animal characters and pictograph-like motifs. All in all, despite my feeling that this is not Aardema at her best, this is an enjoyable picture book, which will appeal to young folklore lovers with a taste for animal tales. ( )