Anno's Aesop: A Book of Fables by Aesop and Mr. Fox

by Mitsumasa Anno

Presents an illustrated collection of Aesop's fables interwoven with Father Fox's own unique interpretations of the stories.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fables

63 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 1989

About the author

His name is written as 安野光雅 in Japanese.

Mitsumasa Anno (born March 20, 1926) was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Freddy Fox finds a book in the woods, he takes it home to his father Mr. Fox, and asks him to read it. Here begins a delightful dual narrative, with the actual text of the "book" at the top of the page, and Mr. Fox's "reading" of it along the bottom. The book is (of course) a collection of Aesop's fables, and Anno presents forty-one of them, from well-known classics like The Grasshopper and the Ants and The Fox and the Grapes, to lesser-known works such as The Miser and The Blacksmith and His Dog.

What distinguishes Anno's Aesop from other collections, is the second narrative strand, in which Mr. Fox "reads" these fables to his son, cleverly creating a story to match the pictures, and obscuring the fact that he does not know what the words say. This produces some hilarious moments, particularly when Mr. Fox interprets the behavior of Aesop's many foxes in the best possible way. Readers young and old will relish this clever book, which invites them to consider the many ways in which images can be interpreted. This may be my favorite Aesop thus far! Highly, highly recommended.

[Thomas Ray]

Anno’s Aesop, Mitsumasa Anno, 1987 drawings and Japanese; 1989 English, ISBN 0531057747, 63pp., 10.7” × 8.9” × .5”

Many Aesop fables, each one paragraph on a page of eye-catching illustration. Each page also with Anno’s peculiar fractured fairy tale—a different story for the same illustration. The Aesop stories are generally more interesting than the Anno ones. Each Aesop story has a moral. For example:

“The Fox and the Grapes,” It’s easy to despise what you cannot get. p. 4

“The Dog and His Reflection,” Envy not your neighbor’s lot; be content with what you’ve got. p. 8

“The Goat and the Donkey,” When you plot to do harm to others, it is you who will be hurt. p. 20

“The Farmer and the Fox,” Revenge is a two-edged sword. p. 24

“The Wolf and the Crane,” The weak cannot demand justice from the strong. p. 29

“The Farmer and His Sons,” Union is strength. p. 34

“The Miser,” Like talent, money unused has no value. p. 37

“The Enemies,” Do not rejoice in another’s misfortune while you are in the same boat. p. 43

“The Woodcutter and the Noble Trees,” The rights of the smallest must be defended, or even the strongest will eventually suffer. p. 52

“The House Mouse and the Field Mouse,” Luxury may not be worth the risks it entails. p. 59

Anno tells us Aesop collected stories in the early sixth century BCE. The written collections that have come down to us date from the late first century CE, in Greek and Latin. In the 15th century they were translated into German, then French, and English in 1483. p. 61

permalink:
https://www.worldcat.org/profiles/Tom...

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a most unusual version of Aesop's fables. A young fox finds a book in the garbage and brings it to his father, who, though he can't read, pretends to read it to his son based on the pictures alone. So on each page you have the real Aesop's fable, and on the bottom you have Mr. Fox's interpretation of the pictures. It took me a few pages before I caught on to what was happening, and then I found it rather amusing to see how close or far off Mr. Fox was in telling the stories. Still, I think some children will find it confusing. When I went back and just read all Mr. Fox's comments it made more sense. The confusing aspect of it caused me to give it 3 stars rather than 4. However, I do recommend it for older readers.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

It isn't what I thought, it was what my grandson thought that really counts. He found the whole idea of Mr Fox making up stories from the pictures amusing, especially after we read the Aesop version of each fable. At first he thought Mr. Fox couldn't read, but then he realized that Mr. Fox was a lot like Pop Pop, a big tease. Anno came to me by way of another book I found at my daughter's kitchen table recently--"Show Me A Story", a collection of interviews with picture book writers and artists. It caused me to search Anno Mitsumasa's books in the library. They are perfect jewels. Enjoy.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is more information in this book on the origin of Aesop's fables than I have seen elsewhere. But what makes this book so special is Mr. Fox's "interpretations" of the fables. I love the way it demonstates that the same picture can tell many stories. And how it shows children that they can "read" a book even before they can read words. What a great gift of storytelling to give a child!

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little confusing and cluttered, with two stories going on at the same time on each spread.

[Patricia Newsome · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is considered a collection of fables written by Mitsunasa Anno for a varity of ages. This book is a collection of fables written in two different forms from two different perspectives. I rated this a two star because most of the fables are difficult to follow and understand. The first few fables are interesting and easy to follow but then the ones to follow are more difficult to understand. The illustrations are very crambed and not to colorful. Themes are difficult to follow as well as plot. This book would not be appealing to young readers because the pictures are not as colorful and the language is difficult to follow. This book would have to be heavily discussed with young children in order for them to learn.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

cool, provensens-ish illustration of the standard aesop paired with a clever counternarrative conceit - there is a dad fox narrating the stories to his son freddy in spite of dad fox not being able to read, so he's making up what he thinks the stories are about based on the pictures, and constructing moral fables of his own across the stories. really cool and i wound up actually using it for an activity in a FYE class about finding a productive tension between your inner grasshopper and ant

[Macy Davis]

Read for CHL 403 - Fall 2020

I've been making it a practice not to really review or comment on these picture books that I've been reading for class, but holy shit I loved this so much.

[Cheryl]

Two books in one. Half of it qualifies for this month, and half for next. It's really quite charming. I'll write a review later; I'm not done yet because it's actually quite long and also provocative enough to be worth savoring.
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Wow. I'll have to reread. Clever, funny, and wise. Group discussion here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...