What do you think?
Rate this book
The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote
Poor Coyote! What’s he doing, hanging upside down in the farmer’s house, next to a pot of boiling water? How’d he wind up underneath the jicara tree, getting bonked by rock-hard fruit? Who tricked him into whacking a wasps’ nest with a stick? And why is he always howling at the moon?
Because of Rabbit, that’s why! Longtime collaborators Tony Johnston and Tomie dePaola look to the folklore of Oaxaca, Mexico, for this nutty, naughty tale of trickery and hijinks. Written with sly humor and illustrated in the vibrant golds, blues, and reds of the Southwest, this is a story with a flavor as distinctive as chile peppers.
Because of Rabbit, that’s why! Longtime collaborators Tony Johnston and Tomie dePaola look to the folklore of Oaxaca, Mexico, for this nutty, naughty tale of trickery and hijinks. Written with sly humor and illustrated in the vibrant golds, blues, and reds of the Southwest, this is a story with a flavor as distinctive as chile peppers.
32 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 1994
5 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Tony Johnston
144 books55 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Tony Johnston has written many acclaimed books for young people. She and her husband lived in Mexico for fifteen years, where they raised their children. She now lives in San Marino, California.
Tony Johnston has written many acclaimed books for young people. She and her husband lived in Mexico for fifteen years, where they raised their children. She now lives in San Marino, California.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 7, 2012
An interesting tale that starts off with a rabbit stealing chiles from a farmer. The rabbit is caught but tricks the coyote into taking his place. The rest of the story is a cat and mouse game with the rabbit constantly tricking the coyote.
I liked the tricks the rabbit pulled, however the story is fairly violent at the beginning and I do not feel was very appropriate for a young child's book so the rating went from 4 to 3 due to this.
I liked the tricks the rabbit pulled, however the story is fairly violent at the beginning and I do not feel was very appropriate for a young child's book so the rating went from 4 to 3 due to this.
October 3, 2013
This fable by Johnston serves as an explanation as to why coyotes look to the moon and howl in the night. The author uses the rabbit as an antagonist that deceives the coyote several times. When the rabbit finally makes it to the moon and out of coyote's reach, coyote can only howl in the night. The illustrators use of Spanish within the pictures shows that this fable is based within a Hispanic culture, so this story can be used during a cultural fable and folk story lesson or experience.
As a teacher, I would use this story to teach students how to make predictions. I would demonstrate this by reading the title and making a prediction about the book based on the front cover. I would explain to my students that predictions require making new connections using prior knowledge. Predictions can be made by using the book title and illustrations on the front cover. Predicting is not a wild guess but a thoughtful hypothesis based on the clues provided. I would give the students 3 examples on how to make predictions. While reading the story aloud, I will stop and let students make predictions. I will take notes of the predictions so that we could see whether our predictions were correct. I will explain to my students that our predictions will change as we continue reading. Predictions change with the more information you receive. We will discuss and share our thoughts as a class.
As a teacher, I would use this story to teach students how to make predictions. I would demonstrate this by reading the title and making a prediction about the book based on the front cover. I would explain to my students that predictions require making new connections using prior knowledge. Predictions can be made by using the book title and illustrations on the front cover. Predicting is not a wild guess but a thoughtful hypothesis based on the clues provided. I would give the students 3 examples on how to make predictions. While reading the story aloud, I will stop and let students make predictions. I will take notes of the predictions so that we could see whether our predictions were correct. I will explain to my students that our predictions will change as we continue reading. Predictions change with the more information you receive. We will discuss and share our thoughts as a class.
March 26, 2016
A Mexican version of Brer Rabbit. Instead of the tar baby, it's a beeswax doll. A coyote replace Brer Fox. Use this one to introduce students to characteristics of folktales:
*short
*passed down through the generations by word of mouth
*unknown author
*found in many cultures around the world
*often has animal characters
*may have a trick in them - like rabbit tricking coyote
This would also work to show students how Mexican art influenced author and illustrator Tomie dePaola's artistry.
*short
*passed down through the generations by word of mouth
*unknown author
*found in many cultures around the world
*often has animal characters
*may have a trick in them - like rabbit tricking coyote
This would also work to show students how Mexican art influenced author and illustrator Tomie dePaola's artistry.
March 30, 2020
Wicked cute story with an awesome ending that I honestly didn't see coming!
Read
April 15, 2020Johnston, Tony. The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote (1994).
In this Mexican folktale, Tony Johnson retells the story of the rabbit and coyote. The rabbit comes across a chile farm one night and ate all the giant, ripe chiles. The next day a farmer discovered the loss of his crops. To catch the invader, the farmer created a scarecrow out of beeswax. The next night the rabbit found the beeswax statue and attacked it and became stuck. The farmer captured the rabbit; later, a coyote approached the trapped rabbit. The rabbit tricks the coyote into taking his place and that’s how their tale begins!
The picturebook is illustrated by Tomie dePaolo, another well-known author and illustrator, who created colorful and rustic looking scenes and animals. Instead of creating realistic drawings of the coyote and rabbit, dePaolo used roundish, oblong shapes and bold colors; the rabbit is purple while the coyote is blue—not the usual colors of a rabbit or coyote. The backgrounds of the scenes are landscapes delineated by long, wavy lines with various shades of blue, black or green to represent the hillsides. These illustrations offer the reader the opportunity to see the setting and also let their imagination take charge.
To be honest, I have never heard of this folktale but found it to be entertaining. The parts of the story that I found to be surprising was the amount of violence between the characters. The acts of retaliation was surprising in a folktale—especially if the tale is meant for children.
Target Audience: Ages 4 -10
In this Mexican folktale, Tony Johnson retells the story of the rabbit and coyote. The rabbit comes across a chile farm one night and ate all the giant, ripe chiles. The next day a farmer discovered the loss of his crops. To catch the invader, the farmer created a scarecrow out of beeswax. The next night the rabbit found the beeswax statue and attacked it and became stuck. The farmer captured the rabbit; later, a coyote approached the trapped rabbit. The rabbit tricks the coyote into taking his place and that’s how their tale begins!
The picturebook is illustrated by Tomie dePaolo, another well-known author and illustrator, who created colorful and rustic looking scenes and animals. Instead of creating realistic drawings of the coyote and rabbit, dePaolo used roundish, oblong shapes and bold colors; the rabbit is purple while the coyote is blue—not the usual colors of a rabbit or coyote. The backgrounds of the scenes are landscapes delineated by long, wavy lines with various shades of blue, black or green to represent the hillsides. These illustrations offer the reader the opportunity to see the setting and also let their imagination take charge.
To be honest, I have never heard of this folktale but found it to be entertaining. The parts of the story that I found to be surprising was the amount of violence between the characters. The acts of retaliation was surprising in a folktale—especially if the tale is meant for children.
Target Audience: Ages 4 -10
December 8, 2012
I love this book! Especially since I was introduce to it at a small age because its folklore story of Oaxaca, Mexico; where my parents come from. This book is about a rabbit who is very mischievous and clever. But after he steals chili peppers from a farmer one night, he finds himself trapped in a sack. As he is waiting to be thrown into a pot of boiling water for the farmer's meal.Coyote comes along and asks what Rabbit is doing there. Rabbit tells him that he is waiting to marry the farmer's beautiful daughter and offers for Coyote to take his place. Coyote agrees, and Rabbit escapes. When Coyote figures out that he has been fooled, he runs off to find Rabbit. Again Rabbit tricks Coyote and escapes. This is a great book, which introduces children to Spanish without shoving it down their throats.
February 16, 2015
A common folklore story within the Mexican culture, this book talks about a rabbit being bad and tricking the coyote into taking his place for a punishment. When the coyote learns that the rabbit tricked him, he gets angry and chases him. However, the rabbit tricks him once again. The ending summarizes why the coyote always howls at the moon. This can be used to teach children the difference between folklore and information. It can also be used as a prompt for the students writing their own folklore stories.
February 14, 2010
This is a few different trickster rabbit tales compiled into a single narrative. These tales are from the folklore of Oaxaca, Mexico, but feel familiar as fables and folktales often do (especially to those of us who grew up with Brer Rabbit stories). The pictures are by Tomie dePaola, whose work I love, and they are done in a refreshingly different style and color palette than I tend to recognize in dePaola's work.
October 9, 2015
Subbed in a 4th grade class the other day, and they asked me to read them a story. Someone picked this one. Very timely, following the supermoon/lunar eclipse! Apparently in Mexico, they see a rabbit in the moon, rather than a man or a lady brushing her hair. Classic trickster tale, beautifully illustrated. Since it's a Mexican folktale, I'm counting it as my "originally in a different language" entry for the 2015 Reading Challenge!
June 17, 2008
My kids really enjoy "trickster" books. I'm not sure if I should be worried or not.
This was a fun story of poor coyote always getting tricked by rabbit. They laughed and smiled all the way through it. Bright and colorful illustrations.
We will probably add this into the unit on "trickster/creation" studies. Yes, I think that would be a fun unit!
This was a fun story of poor coyote always getting tricked by rabbit. They laughed and smiled all the way through it. Bright and colorful illustrations.
We will probably add this into the unit on "trickster/creation" studies. Yes, I think that would be a fun unit!
April 12, 2010
We love trickster tales and we love books by Tomie dePaola, so we just knew we'd like this story. Although the illustrations are quite different from Mr. dePaola's typical work, they are fun and go well with the Mexican story. The trickster rabbit is very cunning and the coyote is rather naive and their antics are a lot of fun.
December 25, 2010
I liked antics of the scheming little rabbit. I've read similar stories, but not with as many tricks from the rabbit. The illustrations were nice, but I wasn't overly impressed. I would recommend if you were a fan of world folklore.
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2010...
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2010...
April 10, 2012
What a great book! Rabbit outwits Coyote in this fun read-aloud book. This story explains why coyotes howl at the moon. I thought this was a great book to read-aloud and I could definitely get into the emotions and all that fun stuff. The pictures are excellent as well.
Great book to help introduce fables. I really enjoyed this book. I would use this in any grade.
Great book to help introduce fables. I really enjoyed this book. I would use this in any grade.
November 28, 2013
11/26/13 ** I added this book to my curricular unit on trickster tales. My fourth graders got a kick out of "clever" rabbit getting stuck in the wax statue of the farmer. They "got" the juxtaposition of the normal trickster getting caught himself. Also, they picked up on several of the differences in culture and setting between this book and Coyote by McDermott.
February 19, 2014
This is a fun folktale to read. I think each of the characters is fallible, which makes the story a bit more fun. I had forgotten that some cultures spoke of a rabbit on the moon rather than a man on the moon, and this explains why the coyote howls at it!
July 1, 2010
Why does the coyote howl at the moon? Find out how rabbit continually outsmarts the coyote and saves his own life.
July 18, 2011
I love to read stories that tell 'why' or 'how'. This book, meant for children, tells about why coyote howls as he looks into the sky.
November 4, 2011
Que un conejo malvado! Loved it.
Hasta luego amigo!
Hasta luego amigo!
April 3, 2012
The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote is a good read aloud book. This is because of the expression you are able to use while reading. The lesson can be on teaching children how to comprehend.
October 22, 2017
Folk tale unit, multicultural unit, animal stories unit - you can find a way to fit this book in. Kids love the clever rabbit.
February 11, 2013
Great!
Read
December 23, 2013AR Quiz No. 60376 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 3.2 - AR Pts: 0.5
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 3.2 - AR Pts: 0.5
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP
April 18, 2014
Trickster tale
August 30, 2015
It was hilarious. I loved how the rabbit kept tricking the coyote.
Read
December 4, 2015its it so intresteading im really in to coyote stories
May 9, 2021
When I picked this book out to read to my class, I didn’t think much of it. It was a cute story based on a Zapotec myth that was written with both Spanish and English. I didn’t think about the impact it could have on my class. My bilingual students loved it, they happily read out the Spanish lines to the class and kindly corrected my pronunciations. There is a Spanish glossary in the back with definitions and pronunciations, but my students loved being able to teach the class themselves. It was certainly one of the more enjoyable read alouds we have had. The characters were funny, the story was well written, and the pictures were interesting and helped to convey the humor.
While this was an enjoyable story, I do think it is important to look at it through a critical lens and analyze it beyond just the story. My first thought is to research Tony Johnston and her background. She has written many other children’s books and lived in Mexico for over a decade. This was clearly a story she did lots of research into, as it combines different aspects from many Mexican myths. I also want to look at this book and what representation it offers. It is bilingual, with the majority of the story being written in English but having Spanish in each of the pictures that should be read to fully understand the story. This is great for introducing the idea that literature is not just English, life is not just English. There are no characters students can really “see” themselves as, being that the main characters are animals, but this story also isn’t trying to be that kind of representation. Instead, it focuses on myths and cultural aspects that not everyone is familiar with. The book knows what it is—an introduction to different myths—and it does that well.
While this was an enjoyable story, I do think it is important to look at it through a critical lens and analyze it beyond just the story. My first thought is to research Tony Johnston and her background. She has written many other children’s books and lived in Mexico for over a decade. This was clearly a story she did lots of research into, as it combines different aspects from many Mexican myths. I also want to look at this book and what representation it offers. It is bilingual, with the majority of the story being written in English but having Spanish in each of the pictures that should be read to fully understand the story. This is great for introducing the idea that literature is not just English, life is not just English. There are no characters students can really “see” themselves as, being that the main characters are animals, but this story also isn’t trying to be that kind of representation. Instead, it focuses on myths and cultural aspects that not everyone is familiar with. The book knows what it is—an introduction to different myths—and it does that well.
April 26, 2021
The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote is a folklore story that would be suitable for third graders. This book was an interesting and enjoyable read. I thought it was a fun tale that reminded me of other folklore stories I have read when I was younger. I really liked that the story incorporated Spanish terms and phrases into the text to support speakers of the Spanish language. The story was very humorous as the rabbit tricked the coyote multiple times and a cultural aspect was even brought into the story.
I would use this book for a whole class to read aloud. The book is humorous and is a folklore tale, so it would be more as a fun read for students. During the book, I would encourage students to explain the plot to one another and any key details as they listen. I would also use this book to connect to art. The book used abstract, colorful illustrations which could be incorporated into art to give students a chance to draw what is occurring in the story and let them be creative.
This book was a WOW book for me because I was so interested to see how the story was going to end and if the story was going to end like some other classic humorous folk tales I had read before! I was surprised by the ending of the story and how it related to animal reactions which is part of why it was a WOW book for me.
I would use this book for a whole class to read aloud. The book is humorous and is a folklore tale, so it would be more as a fun read for students. During the book, I would encourage students to explain the plot to one another and any key details as they listen. I would also use this book to connect to art. The book used abstract, colorful illustrations which could be incorporated into art to give students a chance to draw what is occurring in the story and let them be creative.
This book was a WOW book for me because I was so interested to see how the story was going to end and if the story was going to end like some other classic humorous folk tales I had read before! I was surprised by the ending of the story and how it related to animal reactions which is part of why it was a WOW book for me.
November 24, 2019
The genre of The Tale of Rabbit and Cayote by Tony Johnston is folklore, the age group for this book is 4-8 years old. The story is about a rabbit being bad and is tricking a coyote, he tricked the coyote into taking is place on the sack, he even hit the coyote with a fruit on his head in which of course infuriated the coyote and he was on a mission to go find the rabbit but at the same time the coyote keeps falling into the trap the rabbit puts him through. Until one day the rabbit climbed a ladder up to the moon and the coyote couldn’t reach him so the coyote just gazes at the moon howling at it. The book was action-packed, lots of things happening especially with the rabbit always fooling the coyote and the coyote falling for it. The rabbit was constantly running away from the coyote and the coyote was always chasing the rabbit tying to eat him because of what he put him through. It's also funny how the coyote falls for the tricks all the time and he hasn’t learned that he’s being tricked by the rabbit.
September 10, 2020
This book is a book of folklore from Oaxaca, Mexico. Reading the story first, then the explanation of the story helped a little with my understanding of the tale. I can see why children in Kindergarten through 2nd grade would enjoy this tale. They would especially enjoy it if students from other cultures in the class could compare it to folktales in their culture. It is similar to the tale of Brer Rabbit in America.
The folktale itself had a cute story to it, but it seemed a little disconnected. I believe because it is a combination of a few different tales. I would like to find out if this is actually how this story is told in its native form or if it was just written this way for the sake of the story.
This book was almost a WOW for me, I just didn't enjoy the flow. I can see it being used more in a classroom setting than anything as a starting point to talk about folklore and how different tales vary from culture to culture.
The folktale itself had a cute story to it, but it seemed a little disconnected. I believe because it is a combination of a few different tales. I would like to find out if this is actually how this story is told in its native form or if it was just written this way for the sake of the story.
This book was almost a WOW for me, I just didn't enjoy the flow. I can see it being used more in a classroom setting than anything as a starting point to talk about folklore and how different tales vary from culture to culture.
December 30, 2020
I bought this book as one of several for my foster brother for his 9th birthday. He's from Mexico and is very proud of that fact, so I wanted him to have books with Mexican/Mexican American themes and characters so he could learn more about his home culture and see people like him represented in his books. The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote is the favorite for both of us. The story is good and funny and decently long (you get several iterations of Rabbit tricks in there!) and both of us especially like finding the Spanish words in the illustrations. My foster brother particularly likes "teaching" me what the Spanish phrases mean ;) I really thought the newer books would be a bigger hit, but it's actually this older one!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews