 First edition | |
| Author | Aesop |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature, picture book, Fable |
| Published | 2013 (Little, Brown and Company) |
| Media type | Print (hardback, paperback) |
| Pages | 40 (unpaginated) |
| ISBN | 9780316183567 |
| OCLC | 880941023 |
The Tortoise & The Hare is a 2013 wordless picture book of Aesop's classic fable and is illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a tortoise and a hare that compete in a foot race with the tortoise surprisingly winning.
School Library Journal , in a review of The Tortoise & The Hare, wrote "Pinkney has created yet another stunning interpretation of a classic tale in this virtually wordless picture book. .. Pinkney takes care to show Tortoise overcoming challenges and Hare demonstrating good sportsmanship and healthy competition." [1]
Publishers Weekly , Booklist , and Kirkus Reviews all gave starred reviews. [2] [3] [4]
The Horn Book Magazine wrote "Pinkney brilliantly illustrates another well-known Aesop fable." and concluded "The richly detailed illustrations are lively and humorous, but what makes this retelling particularly ingenious is Pinkney's use of the oft-quoted moral in a cumulative progression both to recount the action and provide dramatic tension: "Slow / slow and / slow and steady / slow and steady wins / slow and steady wins the / slow and steady wins the race!"" [5]
The Tortoise & The Hare has also been reviewed by The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books , [6] Children's Book and Media Review, [7]
A moral is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A moral is a lesson in a story or in real life. The Cambridge Dictionary defines moral as a “social set of standards for good or bad behavior and character, or the quality of being right, honest or acceptable”. Hence, activities that are classified as moral from our perspective may not be considered to have moral behaviors by other ethnic groups. Human rights issues in Islamic countries, such as “an eye for an eye” criminal punishment, is one of the vivid examples. There is no doubt that no matter how well environmental laws are designed, compliance and adoption by people is important. One of the major factors that determine the level of compliance may lie in motivation; others may include positivism, referring to the degree of separation between law and morals. A complete separation of law from a nation’s standard of morals may lead to non-compliance, and the law becomes void and empty.
"The Tortoise and the Hare" is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 226 in the Perry Index. The account of a race between unequal partners has attracted conflicting interpretations. The fable itself is a variant of a common folktale theme in which ingenuity and trickery are employed to overcome a stronger opponent.
Jerry Pinkney is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. Pinkney has illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works address diverse themes and are usually done in watercolors. He has received multiple awards for his illustrations and his contributions to the field of children's literature.
The Lion & the Mouse is a 2009 nearly wordless picture book illustrated by Jerry Pinkney that tells Aesop's fable of The Lion and the Mouse. In the story, a mouse's life is a spared by a lion. Later, after the lion is trapped, the mouse is able to set the lion free. Adapting the fable, with the moral that the weak can help the strong, as a wordless picture book was seen as a successful way of overcoming the brief plot generally found in the source stories. While it was Pinkney's first wordless picture book, it was not the first time he had told the story, having previously included it in his Aesop's Fables, published in 2000. Pinkney, who had received five Caldecott Honors, became the first African American to win the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in the book. His illustrations were generally praised for their realism and sense of place. The cover illustrations, featuring the title characters but no text, drew particular praise.
The Tortoise and the Hare is one of Aesop's Fables.
John Henry is a 1994 children's picture book by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about the American legendary figure John Henry. In 1998, a 19-minute film adaptation of the book was narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and released by Weston Woods Studios.
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman is a 1996 Children's picture book by Alan Schroeder and illustrator Jerry Pinkney. It is a fictionalised story of Harriet Tubman as a young girl.
The Little Match Girl is a 1999 adaption of the classic Hans Christian Andersen story by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a girl who is a street vendor of artificial flowers and matches in a city during the early twentieth century and rather than returning home, as she hasn't made any sales, lights her matches to keep warm, sees wonderful visions, then dies and goes to heaven.
Aesop's Fables is a 2000 collection of 61 fables from the Aesop ouvre, retold by Jerry Pinkney. It includes stories about wolves, foxes, lions, dogs, mice, and donkeys.
The Little Red Hen is a 2006 book by Jerry Pinkney of the classic folktale about a chicken and some animals that decline to assist her in the growing and harvesting of wheat which she then uses to bake bread. When the animals ask to have some, she refuses and instead eats the bread with her chicks.
The Old African is a 2005 book by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is based on an incident at Igbo Landing and is about Jaja, a slave who leads a group of plantation slaves back to Africa by walking into the ocean.
Sweethearts of Rhythm is a 2009 book by Marilyn Nelson and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, published by Dial Books for Young Readers. It is about various musical instruments in a pawnshop poetically reminiscing about the jazz band, International Sweethearts of Rhythm.
The Grasshopper & the Ants, by Jerry Pinkney, is a 2015 adaptation of the classic Aesop fable where a grasshopper relaxes through Spring, Summer, and Autumn, while a colony of ants work at gathering food for the Winter, but although initially refusing the grasshopper's request for help, they relent and invite him in to share.
The Hired Hand: An African-American Folktale is a 1997 book by Robert D. San Souci and illustrator Jerry Pinkney based on an African American folktale about an itinerant worker who is able to rejuvenate and resurrect people.
Albidaro and the Mischievous Dream is a 2000 book by Julius Lester and illustrator Jerry Pinkney telling why teddy bears look as if they have a secret.
The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll is a 2007 picture book by Patricia McKissack and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a girl, Nella, living during the Great Depression who amazingly receives a doll for Christmas, initially doesn't share with her sisters but then relents after discovering that it's not fun to play by herself.
The Moon Over Star is a 2008 picture book by Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a girl, Mae, who, with her family, follows the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Puss in Boots is a 2012 picture book of the classic fairy tale by Jerry Pinkney. Based on Charles Perrault's version, it is about a cat that enables his owner to achieve fame and fortune.
The Christmas Boot is a 2016 picture book by Lisa Wheeler and illustrator Jerry Pinkney. It is about a woman, Hannah Greyweather, who finds a single black boot, that turns out to be owned by Santa.
Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl is a 2003 picture book by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by James Ransome. It is a retelling by Hamilton, in the Gullah dialect, of the classic story of Bruh Rabbit outwitting Bruh Wolf.
Caldecott winner Pinkney’s magnificently illustrated version of this famous fable gives the race the excitement of an Olympic event. .. Pinkney’s portraits are so lifelike that the animals appear to breathe, and they present a peaceable kingdom in which predators and prey live in harmony.
The tortoise may have won the race, but the real winner here is the listening and viewing audience.
With luminous mixed media pictures, a short, carefully meted-out text and a Southwestern U.S. setting, Pinkney (The Lion and the Mouse, 2009) takes on another of Aesop’s fables—marvelously.
While this is an oft-retold tale in picture-book land, Pinkney’s version is faithful to the original while offering a lively and imaginative take on the ancient Greek version of “You snooze, you lose.”
Because the progression of the story requires creative thought from the reader, it sparks growth as well as the stretching of the reader’s mind.
