But the stories are universal and most of them involve animals, and Pinkney is very good at capturing animals and giving them personality. It is familiar from much of Pinkney's other work, like the Caldecott Honor Books ''John Henry'' and ''Mirandy and Brother Wind,'' which come from the African-American tradition.

Professional Recommendation/Review #2: The New York Times: The fables that include people do not refer to the ancient world but instead are set in a rural 19th-century America. The whole is an exemplary model of bookmaking-and one destined to become a favorite version of these tales.

The text, sixty-one fables in all, begs to be read aloud the pictures transport the audience into a different world, magical yet firmly grounded in reality. Professional Recommendation/Review #1: Horn Book: Here is the quintessential Aesop, lovingly retold in a contemporary yet timeless style embellished with a profusion of glorious illustrations. Jerry Pinkney uses his unique artistic style to bring the fables to life for the readers. Opening line/sentence: “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf: Everyday a poor shepherd sent his son to take their few sheep out to the pasture.”īrief Book Summary: This collection of familiar and unfamiliar fables is brilliantly brought together in this colorful and beautifully illustrated book. Where there is a specifically Greek context to the fables, I think it should be retained, but this is a minor quibble, and did not effect my enjoyment of this otherwise excellent collection. Pinkney's choice, in King Log and King Stork (also known as The Frogs Who Desired a King), to substitute 'the sun' for Zeus. While I feel very strongly that the cultural identity of any work of folklore should be respected, many of these fables are universal, and an Asian fisherman, African-American milkmaid, European farmer, all have their place in Aesop. The artwork is deliciously expressive - Pinkney's faces, whether human or animal, show great emotional range, and I appreciated his multicultural approach, in depicting people of diverse racial backgrounds. Retold in a contemporary idiom that never feels forced, Pinkney's adaptation feels simultaneously fresh and familiar. Here too the reader will discover some lesser-known selections, from The Gardener and the Dog to The Boy and the Almonds. Here the reader will encounter many old favorites, from The Grasshopper and the Ants to The Fox and the Grapes. Retold and illustrated by the award-winning Jerry Pinkney, whose work has been given the Caldecott Honor five times, this Aesop's Fables presents sixty-one of the classic morality tales, as well as a brief introduction, in which the author lays out his own relationship with the subject matter. My Aesop reading project continues apace, with this, my ninth collection of fables.

Aesop's Fables by Jerry Pinkney