The Lion Who Wouldn’t Try – Helping Promote Better Behaviour

In the Lion Who Wouldn’t Try is a story about trying, we see a story of a lion who is too afraid of failure to attempt anything. All the other animals are having fun, while the lion is moping around. He is too afraid of losing that he never ends up having any fun. This book is a perfect early reader, with lots of repetition and simple language, while teaching an important emotional lesson.

Another great free creative commons picture book for young children and beginner readers, or ESL learners, brought to us by BookDash.

Check out more books like this in our BookDash Category.

Check out more books about behaviour in these categories: Emotions, Behaviour, Values.

Questions to ask Young Readers about The Lion Who Wouldn’t Try:

Why shouldn’t we be afraid of losing?

What happens if we don’t try new things?

Start a discussion about the benefits of trying new things, and how we can’t get good at stuff unless we practice, nearly everyone isn’t good the first time.

Text from The Lion Who Wouldn’t Try – A story about trying

It was a sunny day in the jungle. All the animals were out playing.

“Come play with me, Lion,” said Cheetah. “Catch me if you can!”
zoom-zoom! went Cheetah.
“I don’t want to play,” said Lion. “I’ll lose.”

“Come play with me, Lion,” said Elephant. “We can throw rocks!”
ka-pow! ka-pow! went Elephant.
“I don’t want to play,” said Lion. “I’ll lose.”

“Come play with us, Lion!” said the monkeys. “Who can eat the most bananas?”
pop! pop! pop! went the monkeys.
“I don’t want to play,” said Lion. “I’ll lose.”

“Come play with me, Lion,” said Springbok. “Let’s jump high!”
zoop! zoop! zoop! went Springbok.
“I don’t want to play,” said Lion. “I’ll lose.”

“Come play with me, Lion,” said Crocodile. “It’s a swimming competition!”
splash! splash! went Crocodile.
“I don’t want to play,” said Lion. “I’ll lose.”

Elephant and Crocodile had the swimming competition without Lion.

Crocodile was quicker than Elephant, but each time Crocodile got ahead, Elephant tickled him!
tee-hee-hee! went Elephant and Crocodile.

Lion sat sadly by himself, watching Crocodile and Elephant swim.

“Why are you sad, Lion?” asked Mouse.
“Because I don’t want to play,” said Lion. “I’ll lose.”

Lion slipped on a banana peel!
wheeeeee! went Lion.
“That looks like fun!” said all the other animals.

Lion played,
and he was happy.

<End of Text from The Lion who Wouldn’t Try>

If you want to read along to this book, see the following video:

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