Customer Reviews

Unwitting Wisdom : An Anthology of Aesop's Fables

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

 

 

This is a wonderful book. As for the fables, they are well told with drama, vocabulary and coherence. The drawings, the DRAWINGS, are sumptuous, give vibrancy to the tales, would easily stand alone not aa drawings but as art. I think there are books that children will remember always. This is one.

This book is clearly outside the ordinary in every way.
And lovely large.
To say that it is "beautifully drawn" is just a magnificent understatement of the quality of the work. Its remarkable pen and inks are so striking they render the Aesop's tales to an almost secondary position. They celebrate text and print as well. Surely worthy of a Caldecot. I opened and shared this with my mother last night and she remarked that it was a shame to leave such beautiful artwork in a book. This artist is extraordinary.

This is an excellent collection of Aesop though second only to my love of Jacob Lawrence's Aesop's Fables. Probably it's best aimed at 3rd to 6th grade. I've read a few to 1st grade. Sometimes I'm not positive they can fully take in the work artistically, or the tales cognitively, but I do enjoy reading one with them and asking, "What do you think the lesson is?" Often times I'm made aware then of the depth of the thinking. After reading the story of the mouse helped by the lion (by not becoming his snack), a mouse who then repays the kindness to the lion by freeing him from capture in ropes he gnaws- my students this year said many insightful things. My smallest student adding in, "Little guys can do things that surprise you."
I've always enjoyed by the end of the 1st grade year having children act out the Aesop's fable in a kind of wisdom tale theater format, kind of pointing to the notion that we learned incredible "things" this year.

This is a version to get with images that are astounding.

As a teacher of literature, I use these fables as ideas for my students who then write their views of the fables and how it affects/effects their lives. When they graduate from school - high school and college, I send them this book as a gift. I have had nothing but hugs and praise for remembering students in such a unique way. Thank you. Nina Hobbs

Fables. Mid to upper elementary.

Summary
This book is Aesop's fables with contemporary title and style. Modern print and gentle nature illustrations require the reader to imagine the specifics of each fable.

Illustrations
Helen Ward's illustrations are gentle, beautiful, eye-catching. The librarian and I couldn't help discuss their beauty just looking at the cover. The trappings of Power, for example, incorporate the print and illustration visually in a poignant way.

This book is beautifully illustrated and has wonderful fables, but even as a read-a-loud the vocab was not realistic for third grade comprehension.I had to modify a lot as I was reading.
D. Nash