Strong Like Leo: A Story About Cancer and Courage

Few picture books tackle childhood cancer with as much warmth, honesty, and compassion as Strong Like Leo: A Story About Cancer and Courage. Inspired by her experiences with children and families in a pediatric hematology-oncology clinic during her third year of medical school, author Andie Blankenstein has created a story that is both emotionally authentic and deeply reassuring. By celebrating the healing power of friendship, family, and community, Strong Like Leo reminds young readers that they never have to face cancer alone.

Little Leo is a joyful lion cub who spends his days running, roaring, and romping around with his siblings. But when he suddenly grows tired and weak, Leo’s family discovers he has cancer. Through gentle rhyming text and comforting illustrations, readers follow Leo’s journey through chemotherapy, where fear, loneliness, friendship, resilience, and healing become part of his story.

What makes Strong Like Leo especially remarkable is its perspective. With her experience evident on every page, Blankenstein gives childhood cancer a language young readers can understand and hold on to, transforming an overwhelming medical experience into one that feels less frightening. Chemotherapy becomes “magic potions,” scans become “magic pictures,” and blood tests become “a little paw poke”—gentle metaphors that explain difficult procedures without minimizing the reality of what children with cancer endure.

The book’s greatest strength, however, is its emotional honesty. Leo doesn’t simply battle cancer—he misses school, misses his friends, loses his mane, and experiences the loneliness that so many young patients quietly carry. When he meets another young cub receiving treatment, their friendship becomes one of the story’s most touching moments, reminding readers that even in life’s hardest seasons, connection and understanding can bring hope.

Daryl Blankenstein’s warm, expressive illustrations beautifully complement the story, filling every page with tenderness and reassurance. Golden landscapes, expressive characters, and inviting hospital rooms soften the clinical setting while preserving the story’s emotional weight. The recurring imagery of shadows, light, and Leo’s changing mane also creates a clear visual progression from illness to recovery.

Strong Like Leo is an invaluable resource for siblings, parents, classmates, teachers, and anyone searching for the words to explain childhood cancer to a young child. It would make an outstanding classroom read-aloud, encouraging meaningful conversations about empathy, resilience, kindness, and inclusion. Healthy children won't simply learn about cancer—they’ll learn how to be a better friend to someone living through it.

Despite its difficult subject matter, Strong Like Leo is never a sad book. Instead, it celebrates friendship, courage, family, and the extraordinary kindness that can grow even during life’s most challenging moments. Children will finish this story with fuller hearts, not heavier ones, and they’ll likely want to read it again and again. Every child deserves to meet Leo—and every child can learn something from him.

Strong Like Leo succeeds because it comforts without making false promises, educates without overwhelming, and reminds children that courage doesn’t mean never feeling afraid. It means facing each day with hope, accepting help, and finding strength in those around you. While there is never a wrong time to share this story, its message feels especially meaningful during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month each September. All in all, Blankenstein’s Strong Like Leo is a beautiful reminder that while medicine helps heal the body, love, friendship, compassion, and connection help heal the heart.

—CANREADS BOOK REVIEW

Published by RE:BOOKS

Purchase Strong Like Leo on Indigo