France: A Nightmare

I was in a bookshop the other day, casually browsing the children's section, when I came across A Lion in Paris by Beatrice Alemagna. The cover was deeply promising:

Naturally, I went to investigate. And man was it worth it:

Each page I flipped through was more horrifying than the last:

Early on the author decided she shouldn't be constrained by the "typical" features of a lion:

Soon she dispensed with looking like a lion entirely:

It's a bear!

It's a mouse!

It's a ... toad?

Finally, it lost all connection to the natural world:

And, in a chilling finale, we were left with this image:

NO, GET THAT CHILD AWAY FROM IT. IT'S A MONSTER.

I didn't buy the book, but frankly I should have. This is a work of utter majesty.