Lousy, Rotten, Stinkin' Grapes - Margie Palatini

Illustrated by Barry Moser
Simon & Schuster, 2009
$15.99
32 pgs.
Endpapers: Grape-purple
Attractive cover

This retellling of the famous Aesop Fable "Sour Grapes" stars the wily fox PLUS a bear, a beaver, a porcupine, and a possum. Fox plans and plans, but his attempts to reach the grapes high in a tree (are the vines using the branches to twine around?) are futile. He interrups each of the animals as they are about to share a much easier way to reach the grapes, because he feels he is much more wily and sly than them. Wrong....of course.

The illustrations are lovely: Barry Moser.....need I say more? The story is a little repetetive and drawn out for me, but I think young kids would, for the most part, enjoy the repetition. A nice addition to an Aesop collection....but not vital.

But Who Will Bell the Cats? Cynthia von Buhler

Houghton Mifflin, 2009
$16.00
32 pages
My rating: 4
Endpapers: Rosy red

I enjoy adaptations of Aesop's Tales - more so since I created some cool Aesop's Fable lesson plans for fifth graders in the last few years. This version of "Belling the Cat" will be a fun addition to an Aesop collection - for two reasons. The story is clever. It's about a princess with eight pampered cats and the mouse and bat who live in the castle basement. And secondly, the artwork is cleverly different, to say the least -- von Buhler has created the rooms as tiny sets for her story. She painted, then cut out the characters beforeplacing them in the rooms and photographing it all. Font is white, pages are borrdered; really different and special on many counts!

The Lion and the Mouse - Jerry Pinkney

Little Brown, 2009
For: everyone!
Rating: 5
Endpapers: African scene full of animals
2010 Caldecott WINNER

Wowee. Zowee.
I really enjoy retellings of Aesop's Fables.
I adore Jerry Pinkney's work.
I'm fond of wordless books. (Even the cover has no words - only a large painnting of the lion.)

Here, without words except for the SOUNDS of owl (who who, screech), lion (grrr, rroarr), mouse (scratch, squeak), and jeep (putt-putt) we watch this timeless story unfold. Mouse, while escaping from owl, gets caught by lion, who decides to let him go. Hunters snare the lion, hes roars are heard by jmouse, who chews him free.

It's absolutely marvelous!

The Boy Who Cried Wolf - B. G Hennessy

Illustrator: Boris Kulikov
For: Kids
Published: 2006
Rating: Fun
Read: January, 2009
Endpapers: Different parts of the whimsical sheep in rought circles, bugs & butterflies...

This is the standard Boy Who Cried Wolf story with the added benefit of really great illustrations - and font! It's called "Uncle Stinky" font. I always like the special touch of a snazzy font.

Okay, this boy is really bored tending the sheep on the hillside (you can see the village in the distance). He tries to enlist the sheep to play with him, but all they really want to do is chew on grass, although they go along with him a bit. I love his dirty bare feet, the fly that keeps landing on his nose, the attitude of the sheep that you can SEE in the illustrations. He loves it when he cries "wolf" and the whole town comes running. A friend stays to hang out with him for the rest of the day. So he tries it again. And when a wolf really does come skulking, of course, the townsfolk ignore him. At the very end, after the wolf is gone, the boy goes looking for the sheep and they're all clinging togethr in the top of a tree. Really fun stuff.

I read it aloud to my fifth graders during our Aesop unit, showing them who you can take a bare-bones fable and simply by adding detailed illustrations, you have a great read. It's all in the details! ! ! !

The Wolf Who Cried Boy - Bob Hartman

Illustrated by Tim Raglin
Published: 2002
For: kids
Rating: Cute
Read: Jan, 2009 with Aesop unit/5th grade
Endpapers: Counted cross-stitch in light blue on cream

Little Wolf hated what his mother prepared for dinner each day - sloppy does, lamburgers, chocolate moose, three-pig salad. He longed for BOY chops, baked BOY-tato, BOYS-n-berry pie. So in a take on the classic Aesop's Fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, he pretends to see a boy and his parents hunt and hunt in the woods for him, just to please their son. Twice. But when he does see a boy - lots of boys- a whole scout troop of boys - his parents have had it and ignore him.

Okay, the story is a fractured fairy tale (well, actually it's a fractured FABLE), which is fun, but it's the illustrations here that are delightful. The expressions on the wolves' faces are super, the details are great fun. Mr. Raglin uses a needlwork motif on the cover, endpapers, and title page, and I'm not sure why, since it doesn't relate to the story in any way, but I really like it.

This is a wonderful model for kids to see how you can take a simple fable, add embellishments, details, color...and voila, you have a great story.

The Grasshopper's Song - Nikki Giovanni

An Aesop's Fable Revisited
Illustrator: Chris Raschka
For: Publisher says ages 4-8. NO WAY! They'd never get it. I'm going to read it to my 5th graders and will have a lot of explaining to do, I think.
Published: May, 2008
Ratiing: Hmmmm.....4, maybe?
Endpapers: Huge, colorful flowers

Well, I love Nikki Giovanni. In general, I really dislike Chris Raschka's illustrations. I'm always on the lookout for retellings of Aesop's Fables. This one is clever, clever, clever, but I'm not sure about how old you'll have to be to keep everything in order in your head AND understand the many steps and idiosyncrasies of courtroom proceedings. Because that is precisely what this story is about.

The grasshopper takes the ants to court. He has entertained them all summer, his music even giving cadence to their work. He would like some sort of compensation. However, the ants warned him that he should be working to prepare for the long winter ahead. He chose to continue with his music instead. There are plaintiffs and defendants and counsels for and against. There's a myriad of characters. There are contracts and bailiffs and verdicts.....and a lot to keep straight. Who wins? The ARTHIS! The GRASSHOPPER!

This is an extension of the fable as well as a "political" conversation about art. I imagine it could become quite an interesting argument, quite a....heated....argument, in some venues. It would also be a great literature tool for teaching kids about the judicial system. I'm going to incorporate it all into one lesson and see what happens!