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133rd out of 750 books
—
857 voters
The Tortoise and the Hare: An Aesop Fable
Tortoise proves he is a formidable opponent in this comic adaptation of a classic tale.
Hardcover
Published
May 1st 1985
by Holiday House
(first published 1984)
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Even above the Boy Who Cried Wolf, this is my favorite fable.
There was a time in my, I believe, fourth grade year, I went to the Phoenix Zoo with my class, and we saw a large fenced area with a hare and a tortoise! Guess what, either they were trained, or I was in for a treat! Because I saw as the hare bounced quickly ahead of the tortoise, but then for some reason, he stopped, and the slow-moving tortoise walked nonchalantly passed the hare.
I exclaimed to my mom and my friend's father (the ch...more
There was a time in my, I believe, fourth grade year, I went to the Phoenix Zoo with my class, and we saw a large fenced area with a hare and a tortoise! Guess what, either they were trained, or I was in for a treat! Because I saw as the hare bounced quickly ahead of the tortoise, but then for some reason, he stopped, and the slow-moving tortoise walked nonchalantly passed the hare.
I exclaimed to my mom and my friend's father (the ch...more
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The Tortoise and the Hare adapted and illustrated by Janet Stevens is a story about a hare that teases and tease the tortoise about how slow he is. One day they were going to race against each other and the tortoise was hesitant about participating in the race but his friends offered to train him. On the day of the race the tortoise was confident he could win but the hare started off with a huge lead. Since the hare was so far ahead he stopped at a friends house and decided to take a nap. Once h...more
The Tortoise and the Hare is a great example of a folklore. In the story Hare likes to tease Tortoise about how slow he is. He teases him about how long it takes him to eat, how long it takes him to go to the store, and how long it takes him to garden. Tortoise just lets Hare nag and nag at him. But one day Hare challenges Tortoise to a race, knowing there was no way that Tortoise would win. Tortoise does't want to do it at first but his friends told him that they would help him train for the ra...more
“The Tortoise and the Hare” is a wonderful Aesop fable classic from Janet Stevens and it is about how Tortoise tries to work out everyday in order to beat Hare in a big race. “The Tortoise and the Hare” is the perfect book about the importance of hard work and perseverance that children will cherish for many years.
Janet Stevens has done an excellent job at both illustrating and writing this book about a famous Aesop fable. Janet Stevens’ illustrations are beautiful and colorful, especially of t...more
Janet Stevens has done an excellent job at both illustrating and writing this book about a famous Aesop fable. Janet Stevens’ illustrations are beautiful and colorful, especially of t...more
The story is about a tortoise and a hare that are going to race each other. The hare makes fun of the tortoise on how slow it takes him to do things and tells him that he will never win the races. You do not have to be the fastest to win just have to keep at it.
The book is a square book with great pictures throw out the book. This is one of my favorite books to read because Janet Stevens, who is the author, signed the inside cover and draw a pictures for my mom. The pictures are of Hare from in...more
The book is a square book with great pictures throw out the book. This is one of my favorite books to read because Janet Stevens, who is the author, signed the inside cover and draw a pictures for my mom. The pictures are of Hare from in...more
I love this book. It was one of my favorites as I was a child. I loved that there was a moral at the end of the story: Hard work and perseverance beings reward. I think books that have a moral are good for children to have. It makes it so much more meaningful that if it didn't have a lesson to be learned. I also liked the pictures in this version. When I was younger, pictures were always so important to me when my teachers would read aloud. If the picture didn't match up with what the teacher wa...more
The genre of this book is folklore, and is intended for children ages (P) five to eight. This story, as i am sure many people know, is about a hare who is rude and makes fun of a tortoise for being so slow. The Tortoise and the Hare decide to have a race, and suprisingly the tortoise wins. This book would be appealing to young readers. The children are sure to fall in love with the tortoise who is shown as a bright green, innocent, and shy fellow. The way that the hare is portrayed is a straggly...more
The Tortoise and the Hare is a wonderful folklore book that has been passed down for generations. I think this book is intended for Primary readers and I gave it 5 stars because of the great lesson taught and the action-packed pictures. The story is about a fast-paced hare and a slow-paced turtle. The hare is constantly picking on the tortoise for being slow at everything. When challenged to a race, the tortoise hesitates, but participates to prove that "hard work and perseverance bring reward."...more
I really enjoyed reading this book because I think its a classic. Everyone knows about the tortoise and the hare and how the tortoise overcomes a lot of things in order to beat the mean old hare. In this story it is funny because the pictures are detailed and I love how the little tortoise looks when he is working up a sweat. I did not actually know that this book was a fable until I saw it in the library, I just considered it to be like any other old story. I really like how at the end of the A...more
Every two years, teachers and librarians (and moms and dads too) can trot this good old fable out at Olympics time. It's the most famous race of all time (or maybe tied with the marathon), a tale about 2,600 years old that's still fresh. Stevens's version updates the story without damaging any of the basics. Her take on the moral: "Hard work and perseverance bring reward." It was true when Athenian nannies were telling this to their wee charges around the hearth a couple of thousand years ago, a...more
Sep 09, 2012
Kedra Collins
added it
What I found particularly interesting and enjoyable about this fable was that the Tortoise, even though one of the slowest animals alive, had the utmost confidence that he would beat the Hare in the race. When it came down to it, the Tortoise was right! Because the Hare was only concerned about his speed when he got far enough ahead in the race against the Tortoise he was tired and decided to take a nap. Well, it was that nap that cost him the race! If the Hare would have tried to race slow and...more
I wonder if I have heard and read this fable so many times that I just no longer appreciate it. And the illustrations in this version are very familiar to me; as a Reading Rainbow book I can hear Levar Burton's voice when I read it. But no attribution to Aesop except in the LOC annotation. It is the illustrations that make this book -- the expressions on the faces of the hare and the tortoise. I particularly like the way the tortoise appears to be looking directly at the reader. If pressed to te...more
This is a great retelling of Aesop’s Fable. This fable was always one of my favorites growing up. It has great lessons to teach children of all ages. What I like most about this story is that the illustrations and text are simple enough for young preschool children to comprehend, but the deeper lesson it teaches can be taught to older elementary school children. This story could be complimented with writing prompts about all of the different lessons the Hare learned or how students can apply sai...more
I have read this before, but I have not read this version by Stevens. I really liked it. The illustrations were really good that you didn't even have to read the words to understand what was going on. The underlying message in the story is a great one. Teaching children that if you work hard enough at something you can succeed. It also teaches children that it's not nice to make fun of someone else because they are slower than you. Everyone works at their own pace. Also that if you keep yourself...more
I thought this book was interesting because of the title and the picture. Also that I read and heard different version of this book so many time that it was interesting to see the differences and similarities. It reminded of when my mom read it to me when I was younger.
Learning Experience
The learning experience would be that I would teach the kids that working fast does not mean you get the work done. I would teach the kids that they should do things at their own pace and find out what works fo...more
Learning Experience
The learning experience would be that I would teach the kids that working fast does not mean you get the work done. I would teach the kids that they should do things at their own pace and find out what works fo...more
I think I have heard this story almost a hundred times; however, Janet Stevens did an excellent job of recreating these classic characters, story, and meaningful lesson.
The pastel, light colors help create realistic animals in the illustrations as if the animals could be seen in my backyard.
The enormous amount of white space on each page separating the text and illustrations reflects the space between the hare and the tortoise during much of the race.
On a side note I did notice that the racco...more
The pastel, light colors help create realistic animals in the illustrations as if the animals could be seen in my backyard.
The enormous amount of white space on each page separating the text and illustrations reflects the space between the hare and the tortoise during much of the race.
On a side note I did notice that the racco...more
This is a great classic story of a tortoise and a hare that race against each other. The story encourages hard work through the tortoise when he works out and go for winning the race against the hare. While the hare makes fun of the tortoise and talks about how he will never win the races the tortoise is busy getting ready for competition.
I really like this book. It always humbles me a bit thinking how even though you might be better at something than someone else, your ego can slow you down. This book is a great lesson and example to kids out there. Also I love the characters in the book and how you can really hear their voice in the story.
This is a story that so many children know. Its a really good lesson that everyone should learn. Teachers could do so much with this story because its so simple such as having students act it out, or allowing students to continue the story, or making a story basket.
This is a timeless book that is told in so many different ways. A great book to read to children several times throughout the year to remind them that patience is the key and its okay to work slowly as long as you are getting the job done.
This book definitely has a moral that goes along with it. I like that this book states the moral on the last page, so that the children can really see what the book is about. I like this book a lot and will definitely use it in my future classroom.
Great book that teaches a great lesson. No need to rush, I constantly had this book read to me when I was younger because I always tried to be first. It is a classic and there are constantly references being made to it.
This is one of my favourite fables by Aesop. Slow and steady may not always win the race (depending on what kind of race it is) but it certainly helps in a situation like this one! Kids and adults alike will love this story and want to read it over and over again!
Nice verion of this Aesop fable. Good story to use as a writing prompt. I have my kids tell me the main character of the story and the basics of the plot and they rewrite it and illustrate it.
A classic fable which has been heard so many times and sometimes isn't thought of a good story but just taken forgranted as a classic fable.
Your opponent maybe faster, stronger and better in the race. But to his undoing he is overconfident. Pace one self, ignore distractions and to your opponents' surprise and dismay you win in the end...on your terms. PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE
At this stage, my son treats everything as a race. This was a great book demonstrating that he doesn't have to be quick to win, just smart.
My students enjoyed reading this fable and discussing the moral within it. It was great to revisit our good old friend Aesop.
"Slow and steady wins the race!" This classic is what I read to my children for our unit on fables.
caroline wanted to be the hare until the end, she changed her mind
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Janet Stevens is a children's books illustrator and author.
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