Customer Reviews

The Grasshopper's Song: An Aesop's Fable Revisited

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I don't understand how an author as accomplished as Nikki Giovanni could write such a clunker. The characters aren't compelling, the trial setting and court procedures are too dry and/or unfamiliar to be engaging for young readers and, with a few exceptions, the dialogue is pedestrian. Forty years ago Leo Lionni's endearing "Frederick" answered the important question of what value the artist brings to his community much more lyrically, gently, and succinctly and in a beautiful form congruent with its message. "The Grasshopper's Song" falls extremely short in comparison.

The other reviewer hit it perfectly: 'Frederick' was much better about dealing with art and society.

Now for my rant. So the grasshopper decides to sue the ants because they were listening to him play while they worked... even though they did not ask him to do so (reminded me of street performers: just because you may be in their presence doesn't mean you have to pay them). They DID tell him that he should be gathering for the winter, because ants, like ALL responsible people, know there's a time to work and a time to play.
As soon as I saw the word "reparations", I knew the outcome... and was not disappointed, unfortunately. The grasshopper gets half of the ants' harvest... and for what? Fooling around, being indigent, being a bum. "I'm gonna play my flute and gets de welfare!" In real life if you were sued for such nonsense would you tolerate the verdict?

Now I'm all for art, being a struggling artist, but I think it'd be ridiculous for me to stand in a museum and charge people to look at my work for x minutes ("Hey, pal, the meter's running!") or sue them because they were in my work's presence.

Argh! This book made me so angry. My wife read it to my daughter, and my little one was smart enough to figure out the ending was b.s.

Aesop's The Ants and the Grasshopper was/is perfectly fine... but I guess it's not p.c. enough for these times. Too bad. The original has a great lesson for real life.

I have two comments on the story. First, this is not simply an interesting update to an old fable - it's a political statement. The grasshopper is not a shiftless bum, but more like a street entertainer. He uses his talent with the hope that someone will enjoy his work enough to pay him. Times haven't changed that much. Sports figures - who, by the way are also using their talent with the hope that someone will pay them - are overpaid while writers, artists and musicians (teachers, policemen and others) struggle for meager wages. My second comment is that, although this is beautifully illustrated and a well written and clever story, it is not written for second and third grade children.

I have rarely been so affected by a children's book--that's something, I suppose, but it isn't enough to mitigate the fact that this book stinks on all levels. The only reason I gave it one star is because I couldn't give it less.

The message in this book is simple--if you feel unappreciated, sue the people who don't appreciate you. Never mind that the Ants never ASKED the Grasshopper to play for them. Never mind that he never did ANY of the heavy lifting and harvesting, which would probably be a more valuable service to them and one which they might be willing to pay for. He sang. They enjoyed it, but they didn't attach any *importance* to it, and so they must be punished for "disrespecting" him. Poor Ants...nobody told *them* they had to bow down to the guy playing the fiddle.

I don't know if Ms. Giovanni just had her salary cut, if her last volume of poetry didn't sell, or if she felt like someone stiffed her after she did a reading or what, but her little "fable" is one long, heavy-handed scream of personal rage.

On the technical side, the writing is way above kid level--how many young children understand how to bring a lawsuit?! (And if that's what she's trying to teach them, God help us all.), and the pictures are dark and sort of smeared-looking I like Chris Raschka, but he can do better than this.

All I can say is, I warn everyone who is thinking about even being in the AREA where Ms. Giovanni is doing a book signing or poetry reading to STAY AWAY, lest she sue you for the crime of overhearing her. Nothing is worse than a pissed-off Grashopper with a Johnnie-Cochran lawyer.

When I read the reviews, I wondered how someone as highly respected as Nikki Giovanni could have written such a bad-messaged book, and highly respected as Chris Raschka would have consented to do the illustrations. I, an active children's librarian for the previous 39 years and more to go, both elementary school and public, checked it out of my public library. This play is being put on in my granddaughter's elementary school in which she has a teeny part, and I wanted to see how they could have made such a bad choice.

IT'S A FANTASTIC CHOICE. Artists of all kinds are workers. How can we denigrate musicians, illustrators, authors to say they're not working? What a world would we be in without these artists? As soon as I send this review on, I'm going to order "The Grasshoper's Song" from Amazon to give to my granddaughter after the play is performed.

My mother purchased this book for my 4 year old daughter. I'm sure the pictures appealed to her- she obviously didn't read the text of the story. I admit, I flipped through, looked at the pictures, and put it on my daughter's shelf and we were both extremely disappointed when she finally asked me to read it as a bedtime story last night.
Aside from my complaints about the content of the story- the grasshopper is attempting to sue the ants for enjoying the music he played all summer. The language of the book is too adult and dry, and will not engage most children. Sentences like "Motions were filed, and depositions were taken" have no business being in what at first glance appears to be a children's picture book.