Some books are read. Some are told. Some are carried. When a great storm separates a young lioness from her pride, she runs through the rain and the lightning until she finds shelter in a cave. In the darkness, she meets a wise snake - and the snake begins to tell her a story. Its language is simple. Its questions are not. This volume contains two complete stories. The first is a picture book, illustrated on every spread. The second moves into chapter book territory - the language deepening, the illustrations stepping back, the story beginning to carry its own weight. Together they are the beginning of Si¿h¿: The Becoming - thirteen books that follow the young lioness from lost cub to adulthood, through the old stories of the Indian tradition. For readers of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea, Richard Adams's Watership Down, and the old Indian fables themselves. For ages 5 and up, or as young as a child likes to listen. To be read aloud, together.