By: Mark Werner
In October 2024, Darlene Werner was editing the final manuscript of her debut children’s book, The Singing Lion, when she suddenly passed away. She had been working on the story, expanded from a three-page tale written decades earlier, for years. Her husband, Mark Werner, discovered her unresponsive in their northern Arizona home. What could have ended as an unfinished dream became, through Mark’s determination, a published work of gentle magic and quiet courage. The Singing Lion is both a heartfelt children’s adventure and a poignant testament to love, resilience, and the enduring power of storytelling.
The novel opens on the first day of summer vacation in the quiet town of Park Forest, Illinois. Ten-year-old Chloe, excited for two months of freedom, steps into a day that quickly turns extraordinary. A mysterious caged lion appears in the playground, its golden eyes glowing, and a haunting song drifts through the air. Startled yet compelled, Chloe faces a choice: flee from the “ferocious animal” or help free its paw, risking danger. What follows is a summer filled with spirit animals, wise giraffes, a mischievous monkey, and other guides, hidden messages, magical powers, and a sinister mystery involving stolen zoo animals. Chloe and her friends, each paired with a spirit animal reflecting their unique strengths, learn to trust their instincts, confront fears, and stand up for one another.
The Singing Lion is a story about finding inner strength. Chloe’s journey mirrors universal childhood experiences: the terror of the unknown, the sting of bullying, the warmth of friendship, and the quiet satisfaction of doing the right thing even when it scares you. Darlene Werner, who grew up in Park Forest herself, wove real-life echoes into the fantasy. The town’s streets, neighbors, and Chloe’s circle of friends are drawn from her memories. The characters’ names belong to the Werners’ grandchildren. The protagonist honors their eldest granddaughter, Chloe, a young woman born with Down syndrome who faced additional health challenges yet radiates joy and love. “She kind of took two things and married them together,” Mark explains in a recent interview, noting how Darlene blended her own childhood with the family’s love for their granddaughter.
Darlene first dreamed of the singing lion at age ten. A few years later, as punishment for her class misbehaving with a substitute teacher, she turned that dream into a short story. “They weren’t going to get a grade on it,” Mark recalls. “She wrote a three-page story about her dream.” The tale became family lore. Darlene told it to their three sons, then to their seven grandchildren, each time refining the details. By the time she retired in 2018, the story had grown into a 94-page manuscript. She worked on it earnestly, starting in 2022, balancing part-time work at a hospice facility with revisions. The book’s gentle illustrations, dreamlike scenes of glowing lions, towering giraffes, and sunlit playgrounds capture the wonder she wanted young readers to feel.
The themes are both timeless and urgently needed. Chloe learns to overcome fear not by ignoring it but by choosing kindness anyway. She confronts bullies who mock a friend with physical limitations, stands up for empathy, and discovers that collective strength, different spirit animals working together, outshines any single gift. Mark believes these lessons speak directly to today’s children facing “chaos” and “uneasiness.” “We raised our kids… we’ve got seven grandkids,” he says. “It’s a terrifying world for a young person.” Darlene, he explains, wanted to remind readers of simpler values: the Golden Rule, self-trust, and the confidence that comes from taking the first brave step. “Once you take that first step, it’s going to take on a life of its own,” he reflects. “You just have to be brave enough.”
Mark’s decision to finish and promote the book transformed personal grief into purpose. Married 44 years and together nearly 50, the couple had planned a quiet retirement in their forever home. Six months after Darlene’s death, Mark suffered a serious workplace injury requiring knee and shoulder surgery, leaving him homebound for ten months. During that time, he completed the edits, secured the publisher, and began sharing her story. “It’s become my quest,” he says. “It’s the last thing I can do for her in this life to honor her.” He views the book as her legacy, one that will continue teaching grandchildren and strangers alike to “trust in their inner self… and their instincts.”
Critics and early readers have praised the story’s tender balance of suspense and safety. “Heartfelt and full of suspense,” one release noted, the book delights while teaching “life’s lessons as seen through a child’s eyes.” Parents reading aloud will find it ideal for ages 8–12, though younger listeners will enjoy the magical animals, and older ones will appreciate the deeper emotional layers. The narrative never talks down to its audience. Instead, it trusts children to grapple with big feelings, fear, loss, and empathy within a reassuring framework of love and resolution.
In an era of rapid change and digital distraction, The Singing Lion beckons readers back to imagination, family bonds, and moral clarity. Darlene Werner never lost her “inner child,” Mark says. She could become “that little 10- or 12-year-old girl at the drop of a hat,” connecting instantly with grandchildren and, now, with readers. Through her book, that childlike wonder lives on. Chloe’s summer adventure reminds us that courage is not the absence of fear but the decision to act anyway and that the most powerful songs are often the ones we sing together.
Mark Werner continues to champion the book through interviews and community outreach, hoping it reaches the wide audience his wife envisioned. “If the book touches just one person and makes her life better,” he says, “I think her book is a success.” For countless young readers and the adults who remember what it feels like to need a singing lion’s guidance, Darlene Werner’s final gift offers exactly that: a roar of hope, a melody of strength, and the gentle assurance that we are never truly alone.
The Singing Lion is available on Amazon, Kobo, and the Google Book Store.
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