Lion
This is a children’s book in which the text is accompanied by illustrations. As a result, the use of similes is basically non-existent and the use of metaphor is weighted heavily toward the artwork. For instance, when the narrator describes how Charley likes to be “loud and wild” sometimes by climbing, swinging, and running this activity is portrayed metaphorically with a drawing of Charley roaring while he wears a lion costume.
The Turtle
Likewise, when the narrator immediately goes on to describe how Charley also sometimes enjoys being quiet by himself, this aspect of his personality is also conveyed through a metaphorical image. In this, case it is rendered in a more appropriately subtle fashion in the form of the turtle which Charley is himself drawing in one of his quiet moments.
Space Aliens
When Charley first sees Emma, he is taken back by her appearance. She is in a wheelchair and has no hands. He has never seen anything quite like this and, metaphorically, it is like seeing something from another world. As he imagines that perhaps aliens are responsible for abducting her hands, the metaphor is made concrete by the drawing of a little flying saucer with two green aliens inside.
The Monster
Charley’s attempt to process the strangeness of what he is seeing for the very first time quickly leaps from recognizable aliens to a more abstract “monster.” As he imagines that perhaps her hands were bitten off, the metaphorical image here reflects the abstraction quality of his attempts to make sense of a girl with no hands. The monster is barely more than a gray smudge that is made vaguely recognizable as a monster due to the addition of two eyes sticking out from what must be its head.
People Are Different
Ultimately, the story leads to the message about inclusion and appreciating diversity. This idea leads a textual use of metaphor that just so happens to be one of the popular and fundamentally true metaphors in the history of human civilization:
“Some people are different on the inside and some people are different on the outside…And different is okay!”
