The symbolism of lions and pride runs throughout the novel. Bell, who has grown up on Mars, is fascinated by the older settlers’ stories about their lives back on Earth. He is particularly intrigued by Earth animals, which he learns about from a book Phinneus gives him called “Animals of the World” (65). The young boy’s favorite animal is the lion, not just because they are “fearless” as Phinneus points out when he compares Leo to one, but especially because of their communal lifestyle:

How could I not love the big cats? They were social and lived in a group called a pride. They helped each other and raised their cubs communally. They sounded just like us. All our grown-ups had raised us together. One sentence stood out to me: Lions who are rejected by their pride do not survive long (68).

In a parallel to that passage, Bell later compares his friends to different animals based on their personalities:

Sai was a lion, of course. Darby and Eliana were wolves (which mate for life). Meems was a protective mother cat, and I was her kitten. Flossy was a beautiful peacock in her lovely clothes. Of course, Vera was a sneaky fox.