The Fabled Life of Aesop: The Extraordinary Journey and Collected Tales of the World's Greatest Storyteller
by Ian Lendler (Author) Pamela Zagarenski (Illustrator)
★ "Lovely art comes with unusual perspectives on familiar tales about lions, mice and trickster foxes." --Kirkus, starred review
"Many children are familiar with Aesop's fables but it is a fair bet that few know much about the storyteller himself...(a) beautiful volume." --Wall Street Journal
Honoring the path of a slave, this dramatic picture-book biography and concise anthology of Aesop's most child-friendly fables tells how a child born into slavery in ancient Greece found a way to speak out against injustice by using the skill and wit of his storytelling--storytelling that has survived for 2,500 years. Stunningly illustrated by two-time Caldecott Honor winner Pamela Zagarenski.
The Tortoise and the Hare. The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The Fox and the Crow. Each of Aesop's stories has a lesson to tell, but Aesop's life story is perhaps the most inspiring tale of them all.
Gracefully revealing the genesis of his tales, this story of Aesop shows how fables not only liberated him from captivity but spread wisdom over a millennium. This is the only children's book biography about him.
Includes thirteen illustrated fables: The Lion and the Mouse, The Goose and the Golden Egg, The Fox and the Crow, Town Mouse and Country Mouse, The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Dog and the Wolf, The Lion and the Statue, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The North Wind and the Sun, The Fox and the Grapes, The Dog and the Wolf, The Lion and the Boar.
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Publishers Weekly
Aesop's life as an enslaved person is centered in this framing of his classic fables. The book's first section gently glosses Aesop's biography ("Growing up, Aesop learned to speak differently from people who were free. Slaves had to be careful") and describes his fables as tools to convey meaning: "He had to find a way to tell the truth without angering his master. So he spoke in code." The second section presents a collection of classic fables themselves, told in clear, concise language--"Once a hare was making fun of a tortoise for being so slow"--with an italicized moral at the end: "Slow but steady wins the race." Zagarenski's fantastical illustrations, rendered in blues and golden tones, are full of charming incongruities finely detailed, like a cheetah in knickerbockers and vultures perched next to a patterned coffee pot, holding spoons and forks in their beaks. Ages 4-7. (Mar.)
Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
JNF007030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Literary
JNF052030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Social Science | Folklore & Mythology
Authors, Greek
Aesop
