Book one in a new Acorn series from Scholastic Canada, The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion by Mitali Banerjee Ruths and Francesca Mahaney feels inspired by the Kratt brothers. 

Viv and Sanjay are the Inside Scouts, two kids who have a passion for helping animals and the ability to shrink teeny tiny to go inside the body. In the first book, they travel into a lion’s heart to fix a leak.

Mitali Banerjee Ruths has created a fun and accessible story for early chapter readers. Using the graphic novel form, she introduces new readers to different formats and by including some awesome non-fiction content, appeals to their love for the natural world. This book feels like the bookish version of childhood favourite television shows like The Wild Kratts. Simple, easy to access text with amazing pictures by Francesca Mahaney make this book, and I would expect the whole series, a winner for readers ages 5 and up. Up until now, the characters in adventure stories for young readers have all looked the same. Same goes for human characters on television shows, this book reflects a more diverse world and shows many more readers how they can be a force for kindness.

I love that readers get to take a trip inside the body of the lion and go right to its heart. It’s fascinating to learn about the different parts of the heart as Viv and Sanjay try to discover the leak. I also really appreciated the back matter in this book. Readers get to learn a little more in depth information about the heart and there are instructions about how to make an “I Am Kind” badge.

Fancesca Mahaney’s illustrations are impressive. Each page is filled from top to bottom with colour, adventure and heart. I am looking forward to seeing more from this dynamic duo.