Who's Got Game?: The Ant or the Grasshopper? [Hardcover]

Toni Morrison (Author), Slade Morrison (Author), Pascal Lemaitre (Illustrator), Slade Morrison (Author)

Book Description

Series: Who's Got Game? | Publication Date: June 17, 2003

"How can you say I never worked a day? ART is WORK. It just looks like play"

So says Foxy G to his buddy Kid A, in Toni and Slade Morrison's sassy, sly tale of friendship, betrayal, and survival -- or not.

Generation after generation, classic fables, folklore, and myth remain popular because they quicken the imagination of readers and listerners of all ages.

We, the creators of Who's Got Game? were inspired by the wonder of Aesop's Fables -- their vitality, their endless demand for more interpretations. In our versions the original stories are opened up and their moralisitic endings reimagined; the victim might not lose; the timid gets a chance to become strong; the fool can gain insight; the powerful may lose their grip. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. More than a play on these beloved fables, Who's Got Game? is AESOP LIVE!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 5-Rhythmic verse, comic-strip panels, and a bug-populated city are the main elements in this modern twist on an Aesop fable. Kid A, an ant, leaves his grasshopper friend, Foxy G, to return to work: "Got to split, Foxy. The summer's been fun. Time to dump this place, get back in the race. There's a lot of work to be done." Foxy stays on the streets ("I have to groove, move, prove, disprove-") to play music "clear and wild." When the grasshopper's wings freeze, he shamefully goes to the ant's door. Recalling Leo Lionni's Frederick (Knopf, 1967), Foxy argues that "art is work/It just looks like play," but his friend rejects him. Strong rhythms and occasional use of slang match the jazzy world depicted in the artwork. Some rhymes seem forced, but in general the poetry is effective, flowing through narration and dialogue. The handwritten cursive text may be challenging for younger readers. Lemaitre's cartoons help with the story's pace, and the switch from small panels to full-page scenes effectively accentuates dramatic moments. The book ends with two wordless illustrations, one showing a not-so-sure-of-himself ant, opposite a look at the grasshopper trudging through the snow. A final scene repeats the grasshopper view, this time depicted as a snow globe, with the phrase "Who's Got Game?" underneath. Readers drawn into the initially lighthearted tale are neatly led to a conclusion that encourages them to ponder and discuss the value and importance of art.
Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 2-6. Novelist Morrison and her son, a professional painter, team up again with the illustrator of their previous joint project, The Book of Mean People (2002). This time, Aesop's fable about the organized ant and the live-for-today grasshopper provides the picture-book story line, which is illustrated in highly colored and textured cartoon panels. The setting is urban contemporary, and the dialogue is heavily spiced with street talk and basketball references. The characters, Foxy G and Kid A, are depicted quickly and surely in both text and image as the story unfolds with its classic message. The final pages present a moral question usually ignored by Aesop's adaptors. Did the ant do the right thing by withholding charity from one who gave him aesthetic pleasure? The idea won't mean much to younger children, but it's exactly the right question to open discussion among older ones, who are becoming aware of the notion of strength of character. Francisca Goldsmith
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (June 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743222474
• ISBN-13: 978-0743222471
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,127,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. She is the author of several novels, including The Bluest Eye, Beloved (made into a major film), and Love. She has received the National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize. She is the Robert F. Goheen Professor at Princeton University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rollicking rhyme/cartoon combination, August 11, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who's Got Game?: The Ant or the Grasshopper? (Hardcover)

"How can you say I never worked a day? Art is work. It just looks like play." Pascal Lemaitre's funny cartoons illustrate this fun story of friendly conflict between an ant and his grasshopper friend. This rollicking rhyme/cartoon combination follows a series of conflicts between the two buddies as they test each other.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Who's Got Game? Not the Author!, September 5, 2005

By 

Responsible Artist (At work making money so I can eat AND make art!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who's Got Game?: The Ant or the Grasshopper? (Hardcover)

It's ok to have an appreciation for the arts. What's NOT ok is the author's message to kids that it's ok to completely cast aside your responsibility to provide for yourself in the pursuit of your dream of being an artist. What would have been a better twist on this story is that in the end the ant was not only a responsible citizen but an artist as well. I don't recommend this version. Stick with the original Aesop's fable version. ART IS WORK but if nobody wants to buy it then you better be able to eat it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Art is Work, August 29, 2009

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Who's Got Game?: The Ant or the Grasshopper? (Hardcover)

Foxy G and Kid A play from dawn to dark all summer long. But when fall arrives, Kid A splits for work. Foxy G plays his groove, but Kid A does his chores, working from morning till night. When winter arrives, Foxy G nearly freezes in his cardboard box in the park. Foxy G goes to Kid A for help. Yet Kid A turns him away, even though Foxy G insists that "ART IS WORK." Foxy G is left to a field of snow, wondering just "who's got game?" This play on Aesop's Fables shows how anything can happen, how fortunes may rise and fall, upside down and back again. Children ages 5-8 will appreciate this comic strip fable.