The Rabbit and the Turtle

Eric Carle brings to life Aesop's fables with his gorgeous illustrations and charming retelling of the classic stories. Designed to engage and delight readers of all ages, this collection contains some of Aesop's most timeless tales. Beautifully reissued, this new book has all the enchantment of Eric Carle's art plus traditional morals of the fables.

Eric Carle brings to life Aesop's fables with his gorgeous illustrations and charming retelling of the classic stories. Designed to engage and delight readers of all ages, this collection contains some of Aesop's most timeless tales. Beautifully reissued, this new book has all the enchantment of Eric Carle's art plus traditional morals of the fables.

Eric Carle is the author and illustrator for many wonderful books. Among his most well known are THE VERY HUNGRY CATEPILLAR; THE VERY LONELY FIREFLY; THE VERY BUSY SPIDER; and BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Mr. Carle graduated from the Akademie der Blidenden Kunste in Germany and moved back to New York to begin working as a graphic designer. He wrote his first children's book 1,2,3 TO THE ZOO in 1968 and has been writing and illustrating books ever since. He and his wife have two grown children and live in Massachusetts.

Children's Literature

The stories in this collection were published previously in Eric Carle's Treasury of Classic Stories for Children. This edition includes eleven of Aesop's fables, opening with the story of the lion who came to learn that even small creatures can do big deeds. In a version of the story of the hardworking ants and the grasshopper who frittered his summer away, the community of ants takes the grasshopper in most generously, making for a celebratory ending to the collection rather than the traditional demise of the grasshopper. The book is illustrated with Carle's trademark painted tissue paper collage, each story ending with the customary moral. The language of these retellings is simple and direct and designed to be accessible to today's young readers. The hare and tortoise of traditional Aesop collections, for example, have been renamed in the titular story. The narratives convey a friendly avuncular version of a classic storyteller's voice. Some of the stories have been gentled for a younger audience. Text and illustrations are on facing pages. The lack of indentation in the text makes for an overly blocky look, not too easy on the eye for the adult reader, and possibly harder to decode for a younger one. An exploding frog, a jealous blackbird, a vain crow, and a clever lamb are just some of the characters in this collection of timeless stories retold by a much beloved author-illustrator. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami

Children learn about the natural world in Eric Carle's original, charming books, which include classics such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me. Carle's vivid tissue-paper illustrations and innovations in book design have made him an author whose longevity and continued popularity are testaments to his beloved status among young readers and parents.