The Rabbit and the Turtle Book

Traditional Literature: fable

Characters: Turtle, Rabbit, and a variety of others derived from Aesop's fables

Setting: various, mostly nature

Themes: traditional morals

Summary: Eric Carle compiled 11 of Aesop's fables and penned them in his own unique style. While they are written in fairly small print, none is longer than a page. Carle explicitly stated a moral at the bottom of each fable. For example, the moral of "The Lion and the Mouse" is 'Friends come in all shapes and sizes.' While Carle's moral is worded differently than Aesop's moral have tended to be phrased, Carle has maintained the original messages.

Included fables, retold by Carle:

The Lion and the Mouse
The Wolf and the Dog
The Fox and the Crane
The Cat and the Mouse
The Monkey and the Fox
The Rabbit and the Turtle
The Wolf and the Lamb
The Frog and the Ox
The Blackbird and the Peacocks
The Fox and the Crow
The Grasshopper and the Ants


Target Audience: 2nd - 8th grade

Curriculum Ties: genre study, ethics, morals, politics, culture

Personal response: The brevity with which Carle wrote each fables makes this collection perfect for short read-alouds to get students focused, or to garner interest before embarking on a discussion or another literature study. Some of the fables are a little beyond students in elementary grades (for example The Wolfe and The Dog, while it has an understandable moral, is a bit abstract for young readers). Carle's illustrations are beautiful, and succinctly capture pertinent moments from the fables. They serve as lovely complements to the writing, rather than the other way around; that is a refreshing change from other Eric Carle books I have experienced.