Between the Lions

2000 - 2010

Pecos Bill Cleans Up the West

Episode 1

Theo reads the cubs a book about the wild adventures of Pecos Bill, specifically about the time ol' Bill wrangled a tornado. When the tornado escapes from the book, however, and wreaks havoc inside the library, the lions realize there's only one person who can tame that tornado: Pecos Bill, himself!

The Lost Rock

Episode 2

A lost rock mysteriously appears in the library, and he can't remember who he is or where he comes from. The lions then decide to set out and search for clues as to what book the rock belongs in.

Little Big Mouse

Episode 3

When a mouse from a children's book becomes a hero, everyone in the library floods her with fan mail - which leaves Click the Computer mouse feeling unwanted.

Farmer Ken's Puzzle

Episode 4

Lionel plays a computer game called ""Farmer Ken's Puzzle"", in which he must figure out how to get a hen, cat, and bag of seed, across a river one at a time. When Leona wants to play, Lionel refuses to let her, claiming: ""The box says ages 7 and up! Not 4 and down.""

Shooting Stars

Episode 5

The lions try to stay awake at night, in order to see a meteor shower. Of course, this is not as easy as it sounds, as Theo says, ""Lions need a solid 22 hours of sleep a day!""

The Hopping Hen

Episode 6

A Hopping Hen causes a mighty ruckus in the library, so the lions decide to put up ""No Hopping Hen Here"" signs, in order to stop the problem. But the problem is only beginning, because whoever printed the signs left off the word ""No""!

Touching the Moon

11th April 2000

Episode 7

Cleo reads the cubs a bedtime story about a Queen who wants to be able to touch the moon, but can't. However, Leona is then unable to get to sleep without wanting to learn more about how the Queen can reach the moon.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

12th April 2000

Episode 8

Click the Mouse brings the Boy from the story ""The Boy Who Cried Wolf"" out of the storybook, so he can learn more about how to properly care for his sheep.

Fuzzy Wuzzy, Wuzzy?

13th April 2000

Episode 9

The famous Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear from the classic children's rhyme visits the library, where everyone is immediately caught up in ""Fuzzy Wuzzy Mania!"" Everyone except Lionel, because if he hears that danged rhyme once more, he's gonna scream!

Lionel's Antlers

14th April 2000

Episode 10

Lionel wakes up one morning, much like he does every day, to find that overnight, he's grown a pair of antlers on his head! To help him feel better, Cleo reads him the book ""Imogene's Antlers"" - also about a kid who woke up one morning to find she had grown antlers. When Lionel is still feeling low, his parents try to come up with helpful ""uses"" for his antlers.

To the Ship! To the Ship!

16th April 2000

Episode 11

The lions learn about a real-life pirate named Ann Bonnie, after Lionel refuses to let Leona play pirates with him (claiming that there was no such thing as girl pirates).

The Chap With Caps

18th April 2000

Episode 12

Writer Babs Caplan visits the library, hoping to smooth out the bumps in her new book, called ""The Chap With Caps"". It's going to need more than just a little smoothing out - because it has no middle or end!

Pandora's Box

19th April 2000

Episode 13

After reading the story ""Pandora's Box"", Lionel and Leona come across a similar-looking box, themselves, and wonder if they should open it or not. Apparently ignoring the moral of the story, they open it, and unleash a terrible thing to all the library patrons: Hiccups!

Lionel's Great Escape Trick

20th April 2000

Episode 14

Lionel gets a few pointers on the technique of doing magic tricks, from the master magician Harry Houdini, himself. When he locks himself in the closet for his act, though, Leona fears that he's stuck in there, so she asks Click to come up with some magic words in order to get her brother out of the closet.

There's a Fly in My Soup

20th April 2000

Episode 15

The Lions try to make Click laugh by reading jokes out of Theo's ""The Universal Encyclopedia of Fly Jokes"" book, only to find out from Click that computer pointing devices are not programmed for laughter. Can anything make her laugh?

The Popcorn Popper

23rd April 2000

Episode 16

Lionel and Leona read a book about a popcorn popper, and get the idea to take the popper out of the book and into the library, so they can pop all the popcorn they want.

Something Fishy

25th April 2000

Episode 17

Lionel and Leona learn about Eagles and Fish after reading Cliffhanger's latest adventure.

Hug, Hug, Hug!

26th April 2000

Episode 18

A sculpter named Pygmalion carves a statue of a woman, falls in love with her, and gives her a hug - only she can't hug him back. The Lions then try to help find ways for the statue to hug Pygmalion.

The Ram in the Pepper Patch

27th April 2000

Episode 19

The naughty ram from the book ""The Ram in the Pepper Patch"" escapes into the library, where he proceeds to make a mess out of everything!

A Peck of Peppers

28th April 2000

Episode 20

Babs Caplan comes to the library to create a fantastic tongue twister, with some help from the Lions. Then, Babs and Leona go head-to-head with the master of all Tongue Twisters, Lionel.

Sausage Nose

Episode 21

The Lions watch a video of a foreign film called ""Sausage Nose"", in which a poor couple receives three wishes from a wise old woman. Somehow, a sausage gets wished onto the wife's nose, and from there, the characters from the film come to the library looking for advice on what to spend their last wish on.

Red Hat, Green Hat

Episode 22

Leona makes her very own hat, with one red side and one green side. When she walks through the library with it on, one group of people see the green side, and the other group sees the red side, causing a great big argument among everyone!

The Lucky Duck

Episode 23

A cute little duck from a cute little children's book becomes sick and tired of being cute all the time! With Lionel's help, the duck tries to become a rock-n-rollin' leather-clad rebel, but no matter how hard he tries, everyone still finds him so gosh darn cute.

The Old Man

Episode 24

Babs Caplan returns to the library to work on her new book called ""The Old Man"". Unfortunately, it has no middle or end to it! But with the Lions' help, Babs just might be able to rescue her masterpiece after all.

A King and His Hawk

Episode 25

Lionel and Leona read a very sad story about a King and his friend, the Hawk. After, Leona wants to take and hide the book where no will be able to find it, so they can't read it and be sad like she was. Also, Theo sings about the greatness of reading sad, sad books.

The Roar That Makes Them Run

Episode 26

Lionel and Leona try to convince Theo to show them his Lion-powered ""Mighty Roar that Makes them Run"", but Theo is reluctant to do so -- after all, they're in a library!

Piggyback, Piggyback

Episode 27

After reading a book about a king who rode on his friend's back (because he didn't want to get his feet dirty), Leona wants to do the same. So she hops on her dad's back, and doesn't want to let go!

The Fox and the Crow

Episode 28

When ""The Fox and the Crow"" fable is read in the library, Walter and Clay get angry over the way the crow was depicted as a ""bird brain"", and then protest to have the story banned! The Lions come up with a less extreme approach, and suggest that they re-write the story to make the crow the one who comes out on top.

Giants and Cubs

Episode 29

Lionel gets upset over the outcome of a baseball game, where the Giants clobbered the Cubs. Theo and Cleo decide it would be a good idea to bring the Giants into the library, for Lionel to meet them. But when Leona hears about the idea, she thinks they mean the big ""Fee Fi Fo Fum"" Giants!

Be Bop

Episode 30

The jazzy, rhythmic sounds of Be Bop make their way into the library one day, and soon everyone is singing nonsensical Be Bop tunes -- everyone except Barnaby B. Busterfield III, who claims he just doesn't get this Be Bop thing!

Top Cast

Peter Linz•Jennifer Barnhart•Anthony Asbury

Writer

Carin Greenberg Baker

Between the Lions is a PBS Kids puppet television series designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, in Mississippi. The show has won seven Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and 2007. The target audience is children 4 to 7 years old. It has the same puppet style as Sesame Street and several season 2 episodes, notably in Dance in Smarty Pants, had a few characters from Sesame Street guest appearing. Between The Lions started its 10th and final season on September 20, 2010. The Show Ended in November, 22 2010 Along with Reading Rainbow

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Full Cast

Peter Linz Image

Peter Linz

Theo

Jennifer Barnhart Image

Jennifer Barnhart

Cleo

Anthony Asbury

Lionel

Kathryn Mullen Image

Kathryn Mullen

Leona

Heather Asch Image

Heather Asch

Click / Clay Pigeon

Tyler Bunch Image

Tyler Bunch

Dr. Nitwhite / Walter Pigeon

Ruth Westheimer Image

Ruth Westheimer

Dr. Ruth Wordheimer

Chris Phillips Image

Chris Phillips

Cliff Hanger (voice)

Fred Newman Image

Fred Newman

Pam Arciero Image

Pam Arciero

David Matthew Feldman

Tim Lagasse Image

Tim Lagasse

Arty Smartypants