I’m looking for a children’s book from the 1960’s or possibly very early ’70s. It is NOT “Lion” by William Pene Du Bois. The story was a lion who wanted to look different, and there was one particular illustration where he had feathers all over. The illustrations had very limited colors. I think in the end the lion decided that feathers were not for him, and went back to his original fur.
Thanks for any assistance you can give!
Additional info: I remember the feathers being white and gold.
Almost certainly not but just in case, Dandelion by Dan Freeman? He gets all gussied up for a party and his friends don’t recognize him in his fancy duds and curled mane. You can at least rule it out.
Nope, not Dandelion. 1977 is too recent. It would have been published prior to 1969. Thanks!
There’s ‘Lord Rex, the lion who wished’ by David McKee (1973). Plot-wise, it matches well to your description however from the illustrations I’ve seen online it’s too colourful and the wings are butterfly wings not bird wings/feathers.
If there’s a slim possibility that it could be another kind of creature helped by a lion maybe see if you can track down a copy of this book? The no-sort-of-animal by Mary J Baker, Houghton Mifflin (1964). The No-Sort-of-Animal is unhappy having nothing special about him and requests various body parts like a giraffe’s neck or elephant’s trunk or bird’s wings of the King-of-the-Beasts Lion, but nothing works until the Lion decides to give him a tail.
The illustrator Abner Graboff did tend to work in a muted colour palette. He had a very definite mid century style. There’s lots of examples of his illustration online but I can only find a picture of the cover of that particular book.
Lord Rex has the wrong type of illustrations, but that No Sort of Animal looks promising. The illustrations are like what I remember. I’ll try to find a copy of it somewhere. Thank you!
I found more illustrations from the interior of the book, if that will help you know if it’s the right book: http://stickersandstuff.blogspot.com/2011/10/no-sort-of-animal-abner-graboff.html
The Read-It-Youself Storybook also has a story about a lion in need of replacement fur.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2385609.The_Read_It_Yourself_Storybook