Fables (Lobel book)

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Fables
CM fables.jpg
First edition.
Author Arnold Lobel
IllustratorArnold Lobel
Cover artistLobel
CountryUnited States
Genre Children's picture book
Publisher Harper & Row
Publication date
August 6, 1980
ISBN 978-0-06-023973-2
OCLC 5829958
LC Class PZ8.2.L6 Fab

Fables is a children's picture book written and illustrated by American author Arnold Lobel. Released by Harper & Row in 1980, it was the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1981. [1]

Contents

For each of the twenty fables, Lobel's text occupies one page, with his color illustration on the facing page. He gives a moral to each, but while the moral is genuine, the tone of the fables is cheerful and playful rather than moralistic. For instance, in the first fable a bed-loving crocodile admires the orderly pattern of flowers on his bedroom wallpaper. When confronted with the riot of flowers in Mrs. Crocodile's garden he retreats to his bed in distress, where he is comforted by the neat floral rows of the wallpaper. After that he seldom leaves his bed, becoming a sickly shade of green. The moral is, "Without a doubt, there is such a thing as too much order."

List of Fables

Reception

ALA wrote "Short, original fables with fresh, unexpected morals poke subtle fun at human foibles through the antics of animals. . . . The droll illustrations, with tones blended to luminescent shading, are complete and humorous themselves.", [2] while Kirkus Reviews found "there's not a jot of wit, wisdom, style, or originality in these 20 flat and predictable items. The illustrations ... suffer for having less to illustrate." [3] Horn Book wrote, "the author-illustrator has invented twenty animal fables with an original flavor" and "Each miniature narrative occupies a page by itself and is balanced by a full-page picture which reflects the crucial event of the fable and portrays the joyfully conceived characters." [4] Publishers Weekly called the book "the most remarkable of the author-illustrator's 60-plus, bestselling award winners." [5] In a retrospective essay about the Caldecott Medal-winning books from 1976 to 1985, Barbara Bader wrote that "in Lobel's natural hand, in spontaneous, cartoony sketches or comic stylizations, the work would have had more sparkle and less ponderousness." [6]

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References

  1. American Library Association: Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present. URL accessed 27 May 2009.
  2. "Fables". www.buffalolib.org. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  3. "Fables". www.kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media LLC. August 1, 1980. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  4. "Horn Book reviews of Caldecott Medal winners, 1980-1989". www.hbook.com. Media Source Inc. October 14, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  5. according to the back cover of the book
  6. Bader, Barbara (1986). "The Caldecott Spectrum". In Kingman, Lee (ed.). Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books 1976-1985. Boston: The Horn Book, Incorporated. p. 298. ISBN   0-87675-004-8.
Awards
Preceded by Caldecott Medal recipient
1981
Succeeded by