Tortoise and Hare

Yes, we had baby two; all's well; I can't write too much about everything right now.

Meanwhile, for summer reading, may I recommend Jerry Pinkney's "The Tortoise and the Hare"? Pinkney wrote this after "The Lion and the Mouse"; feeling a special kinship with Aesop, Pinkney tackled both "Tortoise" and "Grasshopper and Ants."

In Pinkney's version of "The Tortoise and the Hare," the tortoise is determined, and the hare is maybe a bit tuned-out. But the hare doesn't disgrace himself; when he loses, he loses with dignity. Pinkney wanted to give the hare the chance to "teach something"; the story doesn't need to be concerned solely with the greatness of the tortoise.

Because he was working with an arid Southwestern landscape, Pinkney gave colorful costumes to his critters. The costumes mean that your brain doesn't get tired. I especially like the cover, with the tortoise and hare locking eyes; I'm not sure how Pinkney manages to convey character without words. But look at that cover. You sense the tortoise's caution, and the hare's flightiness. The hare even has that slick silk vest; maybe he is a showboat.

Pinkney says he was drawn to this tale in part because it had an adaptation within the "Uncle Remus" canon, an adaptation that Pinkney heard in childhood. He was intrigued that Aesop's story had taken this particular route through the ages.

Great book.

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