Customer Reviews

The Lion or the Mouse? (Who's Got Game?)

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Comic-book-style four-panel color drawings by Pascal Lemaitre provide an inviting format in Toni and Slade Morrison's "Who Got Game?" series. Their retelling of the classic Aesop fable about the lion and the mouse extrapolates quite a bit on the original, adding a zany and fun side to the tale and truly wonderful illustrations.

Toni Morrison teams up with her son, Slade, to recreate this classic Aesop's fable. In the traditional story, a mighty lion gets a thorn stuck in its paw and must put pride aside to allow a weak little mouse remove it. The Morrison version offers animals that talk in rhyme and comic-strip illustrations. The "baddest lion in the land" struts around the savannah roaring about how powerful he is to the tiger, the hyena, the elephant, and the monkey...until he also gets a thorn stuck in its hind paw. Now the not-so-cocky lion must beg for help. The tiger, hyena, elephant, and monkey all refuse, giving him excuses that are pretty hilarious ("My wife is calling. My mother is sick. My roof is falling. I have fruit to pick."). They leave the poor lion lying in the dirt. Then a tiny mouse squeaks up with an offer to help IF the lion promises not to eat him afterwards. The lion quickly agrees to be "friends forever." Here authors Morrison give the story a twist; the next day the mouse wakes up with new-found power and struts around like HE is the "baddest lion in the land." Of course the tiger, hyena, elephant, and monkey all think this is absolutely ridiculous and laugh at the poor mouse. Morrison concludes the story with a moral in true Aesop fashion. An enjoyable adaptation!

Excellent rhyming. It's a hip-hop update of an Aesop Fable favorite. My son and daughter really enjoyed reading it themselves, and having me read it.