Lord Rex, the Lion Who Wished

I had this book when I was a child. Decades later, I still remember it, and am grateful for having had it in my life. It is easy, especially when growing up, to see the grass as always being greener, and to be convinced the person you are is never enough. Lord Rex is the story of a lion who wants all the cool, flashy things many of the other animals in the jungle have (wings, a pretty tail, an elephant's long nose, a giraffe's long neck). He isn't happy with himself the way he is, and ends up with all the cool things he wishes for. In the end he sees for himself what a freak he has become having everything he thought he wanted at once. He learns that being who he is is was what he truly wanted all along. It almost reminds me of people who become so addicted to plastic surgery (or any other addiction or all-consuming goal), and they want more and more, until at some point they and are all messed up and realize too late they are nothing at all like what they once were. And then they look back and wish they could just be the person they used to be. This book let me know at a young age that I didn't have to be the flashiest, the most beautiful, the richest, or the most brilliant person in the world. It was fine simply to be the person I was (and am).