The Lion or the Mouse? (Who's Got Game?) - Hardcover

Morrison, Toni; Morrison, Slade

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743222482 ISBN 13: 9780743222488

Publisher: Scribner, 2003

Synopsis

In this charmingly subversive reinterpretation of a classic tale, the Morrisons and Pascal Lemaitre take a hilarious look at bullying.

The cocky lion, the self-proclaimed "baddest in the land," believes himself invincible until he gets a thorn stuck in his paw. Only a weak little mouse can help him, but then the lion must indulge the mouse's ridiculous pride and appetite for power.

We, the creators of Who's Got Game?, were inspired by the wonder of Aesop's Fables -- their vitality, their endless demand for new interpretations. In our versions the original stories are opened and their moralistic endings reimagined: the victim might not lose; the timid gets a chance to become strong; the foool can gain insight; the powerful may lose their grip. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. More than a play on these beloved fables, Who's Got Game? is AESOP LIVE!

ALL AGES

About this title

Review:

Novelist Toni Morrison joins her son Slade and illustrator Pascal Lemaitre for a lively interpretation of one of Aesop’s better known fables. The trio, who last teamed up for The Book of Mean People, gives the blustery lion a chance to redeem himself after being fallen by a thorn--and lets readers see what happens when the mouse that rescues him lets his good deed go to his head. The moral of the story? "Listen up!/ Listen up!/ No ifs, maybes, ands, or buts./ The biggest bully in the land/ Does what he likes, takes what he can.../ ...believes the sizes of boots and paws/ are all you need to make the laws./ But strong or weak, big or small,/ A giant or an elf.../ Is he who wants to be a bully/ Just scared to be himself?" Hip kids will nod their heads to the beat of the lion’s strut, and chuckle at Lemaitre’s cartoon-framed illustrations. Hip grownups will let young readers mull over the Morrisons’ (and Aesop’s) message about bullying at their own pace. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter

About the Author:

Toni Morrison, who is best known for her fiction, teaches at Princeton University. Her novels include Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved(1987), Jazz(1992), Paradise(1998) and Love(2003).

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0743222482
• ISBN 13: 9780743222488
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Lemaitre Pascal