From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-When Hare teases Tortoise for being a slowpoke, Tortoise challenges him to a race. Sound familiar? But this is a race to the moon and Hare takes off in "an aerodynamic hyperspaceship of the latest design" while Tortoise builds his own patchwork conveyance. As in the classic fable, Hare makes several stops along the way while Tortoise, in his plodding fashion, touches down on the moon just seconds before his pal. Then, "being best friends," they enjoy some super moon-jumping together. As the concluding note points out, Moroccan and modern art inspired the illustrations. Geometric shapes (such as the circular space-bubble helmets and the exaggerated triangularity of Hare's spaceship), strong black outlines, and repeating patterns characterize the artwork. The blue, green, and black backgrounds of sky, earth, and space respectively enhance the retro palette. The text is direct and includes satisfying rocket noises and spiffy vocabulary such as "Woo-hoo, eat my dust!" However, while it is comforting to know that the competitors remain friends, the moon-hopping conclusion falls a bit flat. A polar opposite to Helen Ward's classic and elegant The Hare and the Tortoise (Millbrook, 1999), this quirky version might serve as an interesting, though not essential, addition to collections of this popular fable.
Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
K-Gr. 3. Corwin gives Aesop's famous tale a crisply modern, technological face: Tortoise and Hare race spaceships to the moon. The results are the same; the fun is in the setup. Speedy Hare buys a fancy modern spaceship; Tortoise must build his own craft. While Hare is sweeping across the globe, Tortoise is doggedly plugging along in his clunker. Tortoise, of course, lands first, and, happily, there are no hard feelings: the "best friends" celebrate together, jumping "six times higher on the moon!" Both text and art are kept simple, and there's a flat, slightly retro look to the pictures that recalls visions of early space exploration. Sky-blue backgrounds give way to the blackness of space as the contestants draw closer to the moon, and bold green, yellow, red, and orange colors brighten the palette. Children will enjoy comparing this clean, contemporary version with traditional tellings, such as Helen Ward's
The Hare and the Tortoise (1999).
Diane FooteCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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