Handsprings by Douglas Florian

Handsprings, Douglas Florian's collection of springtime-themed poetry, was right up my alley. Spring is full of things we dogs love, like mud, sunshine, and children playing, and Florian's collection showcased all of these joys. Booklist raves, “this collection of 48 short, rhyming poems celebrates a child's experience of spring in a winning combination of exuberance, delicacy, and messy fun” (Rochman 2006, 48). A lighthearted theme coupled with simple, bright illustrations makes this 2007 Cybils Award finalist a perfect fit for reading on those days when the world is beginning to wake from winter.

The poetry itself is buoyant and bouncy, at times literally bouncing across the page as Florian manipulates the shape of the poem to enhance his poetry. For example, one poem entitled “Rain Reign” has each line cascading vertically down the page, like sheets of rain falling. However, only a handful of the poems use this poetic element; most of the poems are in more traditional stanzas. Florian is a master at writing very short lines – many of his poems consist of two or three-word lines, and his use of vivid verbs and regular rhyme schemes gives his poetry a strong rhythm that lends itself to reading out loud.

Handsprings is just as much about the poetry as it is about the illustrations. Plenty of white space keeps the illustrations from detracting from the text, and the muted earth-tones used in his art help evoke the greens and browns so prevalent in springtime. This choice of color palette was a surprise to me, as I anticipated lots of neon hues mimicking the flowers of spring, but the softness of this muted palette works very well. School Library Journal describes Florian's art as “plenty of white space framing muddy, childlike illustrations and simple, clear print. These sprightly odes shout out the poet's affection for the season” (Cutler 2006).

Handsprings is particularly well-suited for reading aloud and for introducing children to the joys of poetry. It is the last in a four-part series of poetry collections about the seasons, each written and illustrated by Florian. Considering the four titles together (Handsprings, Summersaults, Autumnblings, and Winter Eyes) lends itself to science lessons about the seasons and the changes in nature that accompany each season. The concrete imagery in this work also works well for having children create their own illustrations to accompany the poems in this collection. Other spring-themed poetry collections for young budding poets include Busy in the Garden by George Shannon, which is also a book of poetry about springtime, and I Heard it From Alice Zucchini: Poems From the Garden by Christine Davenier (School Librarian's Workshop, 2006).

This poetry collection was a warm reminder of how lovely springtime can be, and I know you'll enjoy sharing it with your pups as well. Two paws up!

Wags and Woofs,

Charlie Brown

 

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References

Cutler, Kirsten. 2006. “Handsprings.” School Library Journal 52, no. 4: 124.

Florian, Douglas. 2006. Handsprings. N.p.: Harper Collins. ISBN: 9780060092818

Rochman, Hazel. 2006. “Handsprings.” Booklist 102, no. 14: 48.

School Librarian's Workshop. 2007. “It's Spring!” School Librarian's Workshop 27, no. 5: 19-20.

This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman, Ill. By Pamela Zagarenski

This Is Just to Say was an absolute delight. I know, I say that about all the books I review – EVERYONE says that about all the books they review – but this one can only be described by that word: a delight. This Is Just to Say is a book of poems by Joyce Sidman centered around the common theme of apology and forgiveness, as the title implies. Although all authored by Sidman, each poem is an apology written from the perspective of a different child in a fictitious sixth grade class. The premise of the poetry book is that these poems were sent to the person (or animal) deserving the apology, and the latter half of the book is poems written in response to the apologies. It is a clever and extremely effective way of tying the collection together into a cohesive whole.

The book is structured with an introduction (written by one of the sixth graders), a table of contents, and two sections: first come the apology poems, followed by the responses. Structurally, it might have been easier to follow the many relationships in the collection if each apology and its response were put on facing pages; with two distinct sections, it is harder to track which response goes with which apology. Before the students' poetry is William Carlos Williams' poem This Is Just to Say, which is the inspirational apology poem on which the poetry collection is based.

Sidman has a remarkable ability to reflect different voices in her poetry, and most of the time, I felt as if I were really reading the poetry of sixth graders. There were brief moments when the word choice or depth of feeling didn't seem authentic to a 12-year-old's somewhat limited life experiences, but the overall tone was very much in keeping with preteens, displaying the wide range of emotions that come with being in middle school. The subject matter in the poetry ranges considerably, from innocent crushes, to euthanizing a beloved pet, to catching a parent doing something unmentionable (which I interpreted as having an affair, but the poem does not actually specify. This is the beauty of poetry – one's imagination makes the decision). Kirkus Review had a similar reaction: “...the whole is far more captivating than expected. Packed with the intensity of everyday pain and sorrow, kids and adults exchange the words that convey grief, delight, love and acceptance of themselves and others” (Kirkus Review 2010).

Pamela Zagarenski's illustrations pair seamlessly with the poems on each full-color page. There is no literal white space in this poetry collection; rather, the negative space is filled with a background color, which changes on each page. The illustrations are reminiscent of doodles a student might make in the margins of a notebook, and the drawings often have lines and boxes in the background that one would find on notebook paper or graphing paper (which middle schoolers would have in abundance for doodling). The children's book professionals over at the Blue Rose Group blog agree that “Zagarenski’s mixed media illustrations are hip, playful, expressionistic, and add touches of humor in just the right spots” (Magliaro 2007). While the introduction (which Sidman cleverly wrote from the perspective of one of the sixth graders) claims the art was drawn by a student in the class, the quality and consistency of the artwork in most cases far exceeds the abilities of a typical sixth grader. Sidman varies the font and the size of the text in each poem, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious rhyme or reason for each font selection. Serious poems have both serious and more playful fonts, as do some sillier poems.

Sidman's anthology shows a great talent for poetry. This is to be expected from a book that is the winner of a Cybils poetry award and School Library Journal's Best Book of the Year, among others (including IRA Teacher's Choice Book and New York Public Library's "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing"). This Is Just to Say contains a variety of poetry forms, though most of the poems are free verse. There is a haiku, a poem for two voices, and even a pantoum – a form which I had never encountered but found fascinating. While Sidman employed several literary devices, by far the most prevalent was the simile. This is in keeping with middle school development and made for some vivid lines, such as “the silence seemed like a hundred crushing elephants” and “the principal's eyes are like hot sparks.” There is a notable absence of other poetic devices – I expected to see some alliteration or assonance somewhere in the anthology, but it simply wasn't there. While this did not detract from the quality of the poetry, it certainly took me by surprise. There is an author's note at the bottom of a few pages explaining that the poem had been changed so that it could be printed, presumably because the original content wasn't appropriate for middle school. This feature was used somewhat inconsistently, though, as another poem used the word “pissed,” which might bring up some challenges in an elementary classroom or school setting.

This book provides many opportunities for teaching poetry. In teaching poetic devices, there are ample opportunities to send students on a scavenger hunt for similes throughout the book, and this collection also serves as a great springboard for having students write their own apology poems. Two good companion books to This Is Just to Say might be Newbery honor winner Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems for a closer look at the author or Gail Carson Levine's Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems, which was inspired by Sidman's poetry collection and looks at less-than-sincere apologies from a perspective of humor.

I enjoyed the sweet, tender, and vulnerable moments in this collection of poetry. The illustrator's use of bright color and sketchbook-style art draws the reader in, and the beautiful moments of love and forgiveness are punctuated by clever humor at just the right moments. This collection is a great way to share poetry with young people, and I give it my sniff of approval.

Wags and Woofs, 

Charlie Brown

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References

Kirkus Review. 2010. “This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness.” Kirkus Review, Posted May 20, 2010. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joyce-sidman/this-is-just-to-say/.

Magliaro, Elaine. 2007. “Poetry Friday: This Is Just to Say.” Blue Rose Girls. Posted March 23, 2007. http://bluerosegirls.blogspot.com/2007/03/poetry-friday-this-is-just-to-say.html.

Sidman, Joyce. 2007. This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 9780618616800

Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones

When my owner first told me we would be reviewing a novel written in verse, I pictured a lot of flowery language and a barely-held-together plot. How could poetry carry a storyline?! Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones was my first novel in verse, and I must say, it was nothing like what I expected. Winner of almost a dozen literary awards, including the ALA Best Book for Young Adults award and the ALA Popular Paperback for Young Adults award, Sones' poetry is both poignant and heartfelt. Stop Pretending is based on the author's own experiences as a 13-year-old when her older sister had a mental breakdown.

Sones constructed this book in such a masterful way that each poem felt like a mini-chapter, with its own main idea that fits within the story as a whole. The book follows the main character's emotional journey, from the initial shock of having her sister hospitalized, to the loneliness and heartache of missing her, to the comfort of coming to terms with her family's new normal. The character's turning point comes when a school counselor suggests she smile at people more (not in a "you're pretty when you smile" chauvinistic way, but in a "when you feel sad, fake it 'til you make it" therapeutic way), and she makes a new friend. Around the same time, the author slowly weaves in more poetry about the main character's own life - her new friend, the boy she likes, and time with family - and begins to back off the heartwrenching poems about the anger and hurt and embarrassment she feels. While those feelings are still there, they no longer play a central role in her inner monologue. This is a beautiful way to bring closure to the story while also sending a message to the reader: those feelings of guilt and sadness do not just suddenly go away, but they do lose intensity and occupy less space in one's emotional world as healing begins.

What makes this poetry work so well as a novel is how very raw and honest Sones' language is. She doesn't back away from difficult feelings of bitterness, fear, and guilt. Rather, she allows these feelings to spill out across the page, no matter how raw they are. Furthermore, she doesn't try to dress up her emotions in flowery language or make them bend to fit a rhyme scheme; Sones' use of free verse allows her strong word choice and raw emotion to stand on their own. Kirkus Review (2010) praises the novel for how her use of poetry "fits the story remarkably well, spotlighting the musings of the 13-year-old narrator, and pinpointing the emotions powerfully." Most of her poems are comprised of multiple short stanzas, each rarely more than five or six lines. This similarity of form helps bind the poems into a seamless whole. She creates tension in short, quick lines, reminiscent of someone breathing fast or hyperventilating: "I don't / know what / to say" (Sones 1999, 12). She creates longing through her reminiscences of happy times with her sister, which stand in sharp contrast to the stranger her sister has become. Throughout the story, the main character refers to her sister simply as Sister - we do not learn her name. Perhaps this is to remind the reader that mental illness isn't a distant disease that only happens to people in stories, but a real issue that touches real people - like your own sister, mother, or brother.

This novel is particularly well suited to high school age students. Because of the very serious subject matter, this novel in verse may be best for older audiences, as younger students may not be prepared to process the emotions and concerns the book may bring up. However, I always want to caution that each child and each family is different, and there are certainly some younger students who are already dealing with bipolar disorder or mental hospitalization and would greatly benefit from reading this book.

I particularly enjoyed reading the author's note at the end in which Sonya Sones explains that the novel is based on a true story: her own. I wish I had known this before reading the book; knowing this is REALLY what it is like to deal with a mentally ill sister, not just an artist's interpretation, might have led me to read or interpret the book differently. Perhaps placing a note to the reader as a preface to the book would have more of an impact on the audience. Books that deal with mental illness - and also treat it as a clinical disease and not characters being "crazy" - are very important for teenagers to have exposure to.

This book is a natural springboard for discussion about mental illness and how it affects young people as well as their families. School Library Journal praises it as “an unpretentious, accessible book that could provide entry points for a discussion about mental illness-its stigma, its realities, and its affect on family members” (Korbeck 1999, 160). Because the subject matter is so heavy, this book might be more effective if introduced later in the schoolyear once a sense of safety and trust is firmly established in the classroom. Class discussions are often more meaningful and in-depth when students are more comfortable opening up.

A good companion book to Stop Pretending might be Impulse by Ellen Hopkins, another novel in verse dealing with mental illness. Impulse follows three patients in a psychiatric hospital for teenagers and deals with suicide and attempted suicide. It is important that teachers not shy away from such heavy material simply because they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the conversations that might arise; rather, we owe it to our youth to let them know they are not alone and that there are many ways to get help for yourself or a loved one struggling with mental illness. Seeing mental illness in literature, especially when it is handled like a clinical disease and not the fault of the afflicted, is an important way that we can help reduce the stigma that surrounds mental illness, which will make it easier for those who are suffering to get help.

All in all, Stop Pretending is a carefully crafted novel in verse, filled with emotions both raw and touching, which left me with a deep and abiding sense of hope. Two paws up!

Wags and Woofs,

Charlie Brown

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References

Kirkus Review. 2010. “Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy.” Kirkus Reviews, posted May 20, 2010 https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sonya-sones/stop-pretending/.

Korbeck, Sharon. 1999. “Stop Pretending.” School Library Journal 45, no. 10: 160.

Sones, Sonya. 1999. Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN: 9780060283865

The Three Little Pigs, retold by Steven Kellogg

 This week, I enjoyed reading Steven Kellogg's hilarious variant of The Three Little Pigs, not in small part because I love to hear funny modernizations of traditional stories. This book did not disappoint! When three little pigs takeover the family waffle-making business from their mother, the Big Bad Wolf (who, in this retelling, is named Tempesto and wears a shirt that says "Say yes to thugs") decides that instead of a waffle, he wants a side of bacon and comes after the pigs. As the wolf is heading to blow down the first pig's house, the clever pig sends a paper airplane with a help message out his window to the local sheriff. While the sheriff is unable to send help, the airplane makes it all the way to their mother in another town. Their mother comes out of retirement just in time to help her three little piglets steam the wolf in their oversized waffle iron as he comes down the chimney. The waffling experience "steamed the meanness out of" the wolf, who takes up residence at a beach, and everyone lives happily ever after.

The illustrations in Kellogg's The Three Little Pigs are a feast for the eyes.  On most pages, Kellogg's page layout places the text in the white space above or below the illustration, which frames the pictures and allows them to stand on their own. On the pages that are full color spreads, the text resides quietly at the very top of the page, so as not to intrude on the colorful and lively scene it is describing. The illustrations are crammed with details, from the little paper airplane flying across multiple pages to reach their mother pig in another city to the bird clutching his suitcase as he flees his nest in one of the little pigs' houses. Publishers Weekly proclaims that "kids will have a jolly time poring over the particulars in the illustrations" (Devereaux and Roback 1997). In typical Kellogg fashion, he includes many nods to the older or adult reader with his clever wordplay hidden amongst the illustrations, such as the plays the young piglets performed at school - "Hamlet" and "La Toasta by Porcini," a clever riff on Puccini's opera Tosca.

While Kellogg is careful to retain plenty of the traditional elements in the three little pigs, he also includes plenty of his own spin on the tale. He stays true enough to the original plot and is careful to include the characters' classic lines ("I'll huff and I'll puff" and "not by the hair of our chinny-chin-chin"), but these lines do not get the word-for-word repetition they usually do when the wolf visits each piggie's home. Kellogg peppers the story with a rich and varied vocabulary, using the illustrations to provide the context for deciphering unfamiliar language. School Library Journal praises how well "Kellogg's usual busy, highly defined illustrations complement the humorous, clever text" (Falk 1997). Many families with more sensitive readers will appreciate the gentle way Kellogg treats the end of the story, with the wolf retiring to be a beach bum and the three pigs living the rest of their lives. The very end of the story feels a bit rushed - the pigs jump from defeating the wolf to marrying, having children, and creating a waffle-making empire, all within a two-page spread - but it is a very satisfying ending nevertheless.

This variant of the tale will be a delight for children of varied experiences, but its cleverness can be best appreciated when the reader also knows the traditional version of the tale. Reading first the more traditional version of the three pigs, along with this story and other variants, such as The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, retold by Eugene Trivizas and illustrated by Helen Oxbury, is a great way to help children find similarities and differences in this tale. Another approach might be to read a few of Kellogg's other traditional tales, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, as part of an author study. The Reading Rockets website has a video interview with Steven Kellogg that might be a nice addition (available at http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/kellogg).

If you're looking for a joyful, adventurous tale with plenty of danger - and maple syrup - then Steven Kellogg's The Three Little Pigs will satisfy your appetite. Two paws up!


-Charlie Brown

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References

Devereaux, Elizabeth, and Diane Roback. 1997. "Forecasts: Children's Books." Publishers Weekly 244, no. 23: 45.

Falk, Lisa. 1997. "Preschool to Grade 4: Nonfiction." School Library Journal 43, no. 9: 203.

Kellogg, Steven. 1997. The Three Little Pigs. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 9780688087326

Reading Rockets. n.d. "A video interview with Steven Kellogg."Reading Rockets. Accessed February 9, 2019. http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/kellogg.

Beautiful Blackbird, retold by Ashley Bryan

"Oh beautiful black, uh-huh, uh-huh
Black is beautiful, UH-HUH!!!!"

Sorry, I couldn't help but tap my toes a little before I start my review. That's how Ashley Bryan's adaptation of the story of Blackbird makes me feel. A retelling of a traditional pour quoi tale from the people of Zambia, Beautiful Blackbird tells how Blackbird, the most beautiful of all the birds because he is the only one with black feathers, shares the beauty of blackness with the others by making a special blackening brew and painting black ornamentation on the other birds - spots, stripes, and beautiful patterns - so that all can share in the beauty of black. It's a story that left my heart singing.

The text in this traditional tale practically begs to be read aloud. In fact, I ended up reading it out loud to my human, just so I could hear the rhythm of the words and sing the songs the birds all dance along to. Bryan includes multiple internal rhymes, but he balances it with prose lines just often enough that it feels like natural language rather than the somewhat formulaic syllables of poetry. Kirkus Reviews raves that “[t]his telling, by the master storyteller, just aches to be read aloud; the lively rhythms keep the simple folktale rollicking along” (Kirkus Reviews 2010). Bryan's rhyme scheme, along with his measured use of repetition, makes it clear that this storyteller knows how to hold the attention of an audience.

While the language of the story is beautiful, the illustrations have a vibrancy and a liveliness all their own that truly bring the tale to life. Bryan uses cut paper (using his mother's sewing scissors, to which he pays homage in the illustration on the inside front cover) in bright colors to portray all the birds of the kingdom. However, with nothing but vivid colors across the page, there is no darkness to contrast with the birds' bright plumage, and so the rainbow of colorful birds look rather dull. When Blackbird adds a bit of blackness to each bird's feathers, the birds' vibrant colors really pop. It is a master use of color and demonstrates how important black is in an illustration – and in life, too. Bryan also makes a point of explaining that black is not created from the absence of color, but rather is comprised of all the colors of the rainbow. Barbara Bader, in her review for Horn Book, praised Bryan's use of this story element: “In sum, different as we may be, we can all partake of the beauty of black. Blackbird, in turn, radiates the colors of all the others.” (Bader 2003).

The story has a positive, affirming message throughout – that “black is beautiful” - and Blackbird is a generous and humble protagonist. This is a particularly important message for darker skinned children to hear, as much of society tells them the opposite, both directly and indirectly. Blackbird slips another life lesson in before sharing his blackening brew with the first bird: “Color on the outside is not what's on the inside. You don't act like me. You don't eat like me. You don't get down in the groove and move your feet like me.” He later reiterates to the other birds, “Just remember, whatever I do, I'll be me and you'll be you.” He proposes two balanced points for children to consider: that although it's true that you are beautiful just the way you are, real beauty is what's on the inside.

To bring this story to life, children might enjoy extending their wonder about the beauty of black. Some children might enjoy making a science connection: Smithsonian Magazine has an article and accompanying video clip online explaining how the bird of paradise has special black feathers that absorb 99.95% of all light that reaches them, making them similar to a miniature black hole (available at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-shine-new-light-birds-super-black-feathers-180967796/ )! This story also lends itself to art activities experimenting with color contrast or letting students try their hand at cut paper artwork.

If you are looking for a good companion story to Beautiful Blackbird, one good choice is Leo Lionni's A Color of his Own, in which a little chameleon is sad because he doesn't have a color of his own – he isn't striped like the tiger or pink like the pig. With its similar theme and contrasting artistic style, this is a great story to use when examining ways to use color. Another way to complement Beautiful Blackbird is to pair it with other traditional folk tales from the same area of the world, such as The Lonely Lioness and the Ostrich Chicks from the Maasai people or Jackal's Flying Lesson from the Khoikhoi people, both of which are retold by Verna Aardema.

If you are looking for an uplifting tale with a message that's all about generosity and feeling good in your own skin, then Beautiful Blackbird is the book for you! This story earned two paws up!

-Charlie Brown

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References 

Bader, Barbara. 2003. "Beautiful Blackbird." Horn Book Magazine 79, no. 2: 220.

Bryan, Ashley. 2003. Beautiful Blackbird. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780689847318

Katz, Brigit. 2018. "Scientists Shine New Light on the Blackest Black Feathers." Smithsonian Magazine. Accessed February 8, 2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-shine-new-light-birds-super-black-feathers-180967796/

Kirkus. 2003. "Beautiful Blackbird." Kirkus Review. Accessed February 8, 2019.  https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ashley-bryan/beautiful-blackbird/

The Tortoise and the Hare, retold by Jerry Pinkney

I enjoyed reviewing Jerry Pinkney's retelling of The Tortoise and the Hare this week. It was a much-loved tale from my puppyhood, as we dogs love to hear about animals running and chasing. When a tortoise and a hare enter into a footrace, the arrogant hare at first runs far ahead of the tortoise. Feeling confident he's won, the hare decides to stop for a snack and a rest. While he's sleeping, the tortoise passes him by and wins the race. Winner of the 2014 ALSC Notable Children's Book award and included in the "Best Children's Book" picks by not one but four book reviewers (including School Library Journal and Booklist), Pinkney takes a classic Aesop fable and uses vibrant, detailed illustrations to make the moral of the story come alive on the page.

While some fables may be too allegorical for the youngest of readers to fully comprehend, Pinkney helps make the message come through loud and clear: the only text in the book (besides very minimal initial dialogue to set the scene) is the moral of the story, "slow and steady wins the race." Pinkney cleverly builds up to the full adage, building the sentence by adding one word on at a time. This method of repetition is particularly well-suited to young readers, offering them the chance to practice their prediction skills in guessing what word will come next.

Where this book really shines is the illustrations. Intricate and colorful, Pinkney leaves little eyes plenty of information to read without needing words to tell the tale. Kirkus Reviews says of the book, "The ingenious layout mixes bordered panels, spot illustrations and full-bleed single- and double-page spreads, arranged to convey each racer’s alternating progress through a golden landscape. Bejeweled with blooming cactuses and buzzing with bees, reptiles, mammals and more, the desert tableaux will engross readers. The critters’ bits of clothing—hat, bandanna, vest—add pops of color and visually evoke the jaunty characters of Br’er Rabbit stories"(Kirkus Reviews, 2013). He evokes a delightful scene by setting the story in the American Southwest, replete with native flora and fauna (including the tortoise and hare themselves).

My favorite part about this book is the final page, where the hare takes his black and white checkered bandanna that was used for the finish line flag and places it gently around the tortoise's neck, showing that there are no hard feelings about who won the race. The Horn Book comments, "Pinkney nicely allows the hare to have more redeeming qualities than in most versions of this fable" (Robinson, 2013).  I was glad to see Pinkney include good sportsmanship in the tale, as many fables have one-dimensional characters that are characterized by a single quality, such as arrogance, laziness, kindness, or perseverance. This story stands apart from other fables because of his inclusion of that gracious final illustration of the hare (and the friendship continues past the last page and onto the back cover, as the tortoise and the hare march off together.)

When sharing this fable with your pups at home, a natural pairing would be to read this story along with Pinkney's Caldecott Award-winning The Lion and the Mouse, another fable that is short on text but big on story. Another fun activity would be to have children choose a short saying or aphorism to illustrate in Pinkney's style, building the phrase one word at a time as the pages turn. This book also works beautifully for comparing and contrasting versions of the fable, as The Tortoise and the Hare has been retold for generations.

No matter what your feelings are about fables, The Tortoise and the Hare is sure to leave its mark as an enduring and beautiful example of Aesop's fable. I give it two paws up!

-Charlie Brown, basset hound

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References

Kirkus Reviews. "The Tortoise and the Hare." Kirkus Reviews. Last modified August 13, 2013. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jerry-pinkney/the-tortoise-and-the-hare-pinkney/.

Pinkney, Jerry. 2013. The Tortoise and the Hare. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-18356-7

Robinson, Lolly. 2013. "The Tortoise and the Hare." The Horn Book. Last modified November 6, 2013. https://www.hbook.com/2013/11/blogs/calling-caldecott/tortoise-hare/.