Customer Reviews

Hare And The Tortoise

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

 

 

Helen Ward's illustrations are fabulous and she has retold this classic charmingly and engagingly. I am more and more impressed by Australian illustrators and writers. This is a must have.

I cannot believe this is not an award winning book. I have read many children's books lately, and to me this ranks right up there with the Caldecotts and other award winners. The illustrations are wonderful, depicting the animals realistically yet with very expressive almost human faces. The story has some nice humorous twists to it, and I found it very entertaining. There is even an educational aspect to it, as it includes an index of sorts to the animals depicted and a little information about them. I think any child would be delighted with this book, and might even be inspired to further reading about animals.

The book is truly a dream come true for many children. I myself found the book to be soothing to a rejected child who is always to slow and never wins. This just goes to show that good sportsmanship and willingness makes the grade. I know that someday when I children that I will read this book to them rather they are the fastest most athletic kid in the class or the slowest and last picked kid in the class

The pictures in this book are very vivid and beautiful. I really like it but my kids didn't seem to think it was great. I'll keep it and see if they like it when they are older. If you have very young kids you may want to find a version with pictures a bit more simple.

What I loved about this book was the variety of animals it featured, everything from a cheetah to a giraffe, to a sloth and a lorikeet! Not to mention that at the end of the book are little facts about each of the animals - like which is the slowest animal in the world, the fastest, etc.
The illustrations were quite nice as well - pretty accurate, but still with a child-friendly cuteness.

The story itself is pretty much the same as always but it includes a few fun twists because of the variety of animals. I can't help but feel a little sorry for the hare, but it is a story of consequences, so it dose have its place.

If you can find this, I'd definitely pick it up - it's a fun treat on every page.