Look at maps of London. What famous places can you find? Could you challenge a friend to find different places in London? Can you find the places mentioned in the story? Write a diary entry from Katie’s point of view about her trip to London. Could you write a diary entry from the Lion’s point of view? The story can be used in numerous ways within the classroom. What initially comes to mind is using this story within geography and using maps of London to pinpoint the famous sights mentioned within the book. The children could possibly find out how people travel to, from and around London. Are there any examples of transport shown in the book? As a storyteller he has devised and performed a series of sell-out concerts for children with the de Havilland Philharmonic Orchestra, and has participated in prom performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Find photos of different places in London and use these as inspiration for your own art work (see Resources below). Find the prices of different tourist attractions in London. If you were to go with an adult, how much would they cost? If you were to go with two adults and a friend, what would the new price be? Identify shapes in the illustrations. How many squares, rectangles, triangles or circles can you see? Find photos of London and make a photo guide about London with your own narration. You could use a program like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie to do this.Compare photos of parts of London with the illustrations in the story. How are they similar / different? Find out how people travel to, from and around London. Are there any examples of transport shown in the book? James Mayhew's first book for children was Katie's Pictures Show, (Orchard Books 1989) establishing the long running series about a child's adventures in an art gallery. Many of his books have a cultural agenda and James is passionate about introducing children to art, music, opera, ballet and traditional tales. He has made regular appearances at the National Galleries in Edinburgh and London and visits many schools, and arts and literary festivals. Look at the use of speech marks in the story. Can you turn this direct speech into indirect speech?

He has also created designs and illustrations for the Kirov Mariinsky Opera of St Petersburg and in 1994 won the New York Times award for one of the ten best illustrated books on the year (The Boy and The Cloth of Dreams). It depicts all the famous London sights such as Trafalgar Square, St Paul's' Cathedral,The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.