The Circle of Life Sequence Gets the Picture Book Treatment in Morning at Pride Rock

There have been many movie previews that have made an impression on me, but none can match the impact of the one for The Lion King, which was simply the opening sequence of the movie. I had never seen anything as eye-poppingly epic as the sight of hundreds of animals rushing toward Pride Rock to the tune of African chanting, stirring instrumentals and a powerful lead vocal describing the “Circle of Life.” This is the scene recreated in Teddy Slater’s Morning at Pride Rock, illustrated by Robin Cuddy and David Pacheco.

The illustrations in the book are magnificent, recalling the majesty of that opening scene. While the last picture is on a single page, the book otherwise consists of 14 two-page spreads, most of which feature a particular type of animal reacting to the summons to Pride Rock. A cheetah. A pair of rhinoceroses. An octet of meerkats. We have gracefully wading storks, lumbering elephants and soaring flamingos, stampeding zebras, scampering moneys and galloping gazelles. Giraffes and topi are the final animals to be highlighted. It would have been nice if all 11 species could have been represented in the picture showing the animals bowing before the new prince, but the up-close view of the animals that we get instead is enjoyable.

The focus of this book is mostly on the diversity of the creatures who answer to the lions. Counting the royal family, Zazu the hornbill and Rafiki the baboon, there are 14 distinct types of animals here, and each reacts to the presentation in a different way. While it doesn’t quite have the same epic scope as that part of the movie, it’s perfectly plain that something big is happening. The sense of urgency and excitement is apparent throughout the book. It’s also interesting to watch the progression of the sunrise, which so gorgeously shapes the backgrounds. At the beginning, the sky is a deep reddish orange color. The shade shifts slightly from page to page so that by the conclusion, we’re looking at a brilliant blue sky.

I thought that Morning at Pride Rock might simply use the lyrics to Circle of Life as its text, but instead, the narration featured in the colored strip that runs along the bottom of each page is unique to this book. Written in large italics, the words are limited to one sentence on most pages. Usually it’s only one line of text, but sometimes there are two. The writing is fairly simple but has a poetic ring to it, especially in the descriptions of the animals. The giraffes are “elegant,” the gazelles “graceful,” the cheetah “tawny.” Slater incorporates some good verbs as well; the elephants “trumpet” the news of Simba’s birth; the storks “plod.” Even though this is far from a wordy book, youngsters might be introduced to a new word or two.

Without the exceptional music and fluid movement across a vast expanse, it’s hard for a book to truly pack the punch of one of my favorite Disney scenes ever, but Morning at Pride Rock comes close.