Janet Stevens, Author, Aesop, Author, Janet Stevens, Adapted by Holiday House $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8234-0633-3
With her customary charm, Stevens offers a version of this Aesop's fable that modernizes the tale while preserving the spirit of the original. ""One day, the town mouse went to visit her cousin in the country. She swished through the door and flung...
READ FULL REVIEW
Tom Paxton, Author, Aesop, Author, Robert Rayevsky, Illustrator Morrow Junior Books $16 (40p) ISBN 978-0-688-07360-2
These 10 fables are given a fresh treatment in rhyme, and a new look by Rayevsky. His foxes, bears, lions and other animals appear in medieval and Shakespearean capes, jerkins and plumed hats, all in deep reds, subtle browns and greens. The verses...
READ FULL REVIEW
Lorinda Bryan Cauley, Author, Aesop, Author, Lorinda B. Cauley, Adapted by Putnam Publishing Group $6.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-399-22009-8
PW noted that Cauley ``does wonders for the fable about differing notions on the good life,'' and praised her ``enchanting'' illustrations and ``irresistible'' characters. Ages 4-8. (Aug.)
READ FULL REVIEW
Laura Gehl, illus. by Sarah Goodreau. Kar-Ben, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4677-2199-8
Gehl uses the framework of Aesop’s well-known fable to give readers a brief overview of some of Israel’s cultural and topographical highlights. After visiting the beach, the opera, and musuems, Hare and Tortoise stage a race to the Dead Sea. While...
READ FULL REVIEW
Margaret Wise Brown, Author, Larry Moore, Author, Aesop, Author Random House Disney $12.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-56282-534-8
Well before Goodnight, Moon , Brown retold a series of classic stories for Walt Disney, among them this kindly version of the classic Aesop's fable. Moore's intensely colored, filmic illustrations magnify a miniature world and add an art deco flavor.
READ FULL REVIEW
Aesop, Author, Werner Thuswalder, Author, A. Bell, Author NorthSouth $16.95 (1p) ISBN 978-1-55858-339-9
In her first book, German artist Durr uses pencil and charcoal to illustrate a particularly imaginative selection of 17 classic fables. Although many entries are familiar, Thuswaldner makes room for more unusual choices. In ``A Dress for the Moon,''
READ FULL REVIEW
Aesop, Author, Tom Paxton, Author, Robert Rayevsky, Illustrator Morrow Junior Books $15 (1p) ISBN 978-0-688-10400-9
Paxton and Rayevsky are on a roll--in their fourth joint venture they return once again to Aesop territory, putting their unique spin on 10 more of the master's fables. Some of the stories in this collection are familiar, such as ``Birds of a...
READ FULL REVIEW
Aesop, Author, Aki Sogabe, Author, Aki Sogabe, Retold by Harcourt Children's Books $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-201671-5
Though Sogabe's (The Loyal Cat) cut-paper illustrations are glorious, they cannot disguise the pedestrian, plodding tone of the story, which strings together several brief tales about a fox. Many of the vignettes have direct roots in Aesop (""The...
READ FULL REVIEW
Aesop, Author, Lisbeth Zwerger, Author, Lisbeth Zwerger, Illustrator NorthSouth $16 (26p) ISBN 978-0-88708-108-8
Here are a round dozen of Aesop's instructive tales, including such favorites as ``The Hare and the Tortoise'' and ``The Milkmaid and Her Pail,'' along with lesser-known parables like ``The Man and the Satyr'' and ``The Hares and the Frogs.'' A...
READ FULL REVIEW
Aesop, Author, Safaya Salter, Author, Safay Salter, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P $14.95 (79p) ISBN 978-0-15-200350-0
Salter refurbishes 58 of Aesop's fables with delicate flame-toned illustrations. Underscoring the timelessness and adaptability of the Greek storyteller's work, the British artist borrows motifs and styles from a number of the so-called cradles of...
READ FULL REVIEW
Aesop, Author, Frances Barnes-Murphy, Author, Rowan Barnes-Murphy, Author HarperCollins $19.95 (92p) ISBN 978-0-688-07051-9
This British husband-and-wife team has gleaned more than a hundred of the ancient storyteller's fables for this beguiling compendium. Well-known entries (e.g., ""The Tortoise and the Hare""; ""The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs"") are presented...
READ FULL REVIEW
Aesop, Author, Ian Andrews, Author, A. J. Wood, Adapted by Millbrook Press $14.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-56294-933-4
Gentle, black-and-white pencil drawings mirror the hushed reverence of this haunting retelling of a well-known Aesop's fable. Just a few lines evoke the lion's command of his forest kingdom and build a sense of foreboding (``[The mouse] stayed,...
READ FULL REVIEW
Aesop, Author, Eugen Sopko, Illustrator Henry Holt & Company $4.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-8050-0664-3
This new version of an old fable features softly colored illustrations by a Czechoslovakian artist. Ages 5-8. (March)
READ FULL REVIEW
Michael Hague, Author, Aesop, Author, Michael Hague, Illustrator Henry Holt & Company $8.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8050-6315-8
Hague brings his signature nostalgic, intricately detailed style to 13 of Aesop's moral tales. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
READ FULL REVIEW
Vivian French, Author, Aesop, Author, Vivian French, Retold by Viking Children's Books $15.99 (80p) ISBN 978-0-670-87524-5
This British import adds a catchy, contemporary kick to Aesop's moral tales. The fables vary in form, including rhymes and monologues as well as narrative; they share, however, an unbridled use of sound effects, as in the start of ""The Fox and the...
READ FULL REVIEW
Jane Yolen, Author, Aesop, Author, Karen Barbour, Author Scholastic Inc. $14.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-590-47895-3
Yolen and Barbour prove a dynamite pairing in this splashy picture book. Here they jazz up a baker's dozen of Aesop's much-loved fables, most of which are familiar (""The Boy Who Cried Wolf,"" ""The Grasshopper and the Ants,"" ""The Lion and the...
READ FULL REVIEW
Barbara Bader, Author, Aesop, Author, Arthur Geisert, Author Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) $7.95 (64p) ISBN 978-0-395-97496-4
Pitch-perfect tellings of 19 fables plus biographical vignettes find their match in elegant and witty etchings, set in a prairie town and brimming with personality. All ages. (Mar.)
READ FULL REVIEW
Bernard McTigue, Translator, Aesop, Author, Everett Fahy, Adapted by ABRAMS $45 (175p) ISBN 978-0-8109-1542-8
Aesop's animal fables spring marvelously to life in the tiny, jewel-like miniatures adorning the 15th-century illuminated Florentine manuscript splendidly reproduced here in 151 color illustrations. Rendered by a rare books curator at the New York...
READ FULL REVIEW
Caroline Castle, Author, Aesop, Author, Peter Weevers, Author Puffin Books $4.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-0147-2
An exceptional retelling of Aesop's classic race. Ages 4-8. (March)
READ FULL REVIEW
Bernadette Watts, Author, Aesop, Author, B. Watts, Author NorthSouth $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-55858-987-2
Watts (Harvey Hare, Postman Extraordinaire) makes uniformly pretty pictures of sweet little pink-eared mice, but her story, devoid of any element of danger when the mice visit one another's environs, makes for a rather bland retelling of the Aesop...
READ FULL REVIEW
Tom Lynch, Author, Aesop, Author, Regina Hayes, Editor Viking Children's Books $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-670-88948-8
Using fabric collages, debut author/ artist Lynch stitches together a smorgasbord of fables into a colorful picture book quilt. He's rounded up a baker's dozen of the parables and presents them in a format that's short and sweet--one per double-sprea
READ FULL REVIEW
Tom Lynch, Author, Aesop, Author, Tom Lynch, Retold by . Picture Puffin $6.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-14-230194-4
"Using fabric collages, Lynch stitches together a smorgasbord of (13) fables into a colorful picture book quilt," wrote PW. Ages 4-8. (Nov.)
READ FULL REVIEW
Margaret G. Clark, Author, Aesop, Author, Charlotte Voake, Author Joy Street Books $16.95 (61p) ISBN 978-0-316-14499-5
The genial tone and presentation of the 30 selections in this compilation reflect Clark's belief that Aesop's tales are entertaining in their own right, and not merely--nor even primarily--as vehicles for instruction. Traditionalists may miss each...
READ FULL REVIEW
