The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

A retelling of the Afro-American tales about the adventures and misadventures of Brer Rabbit and his friends and enemies.

Grade 2 Up Recent retellings of Joel Chandler Harris' African-American folktales from former slaves have pruned the dialect and leave out Uncle Remus all together. Most notable of these is Jump!: the Adventures of Brer Rabbit (HBJ, 1986). This newest attempt brings together two distinguished children's book creators in a most unusual recreation. Lester has retold 48 of the folktales in standard English but with a strong feel for the dialect of the original stories. His retellings are as lively as the originals but they also have a liveliness of their own, as he incorporates modern allusions which never seem out of place. Even more importantly, he uses the sharp, witty Uncle Remus who narrated the original folktales, and not the more servile character from the opening and closing segments who many found offensive. Pinkney's illustrations are mostly black-and-white sketches with some full-color double-page spreads. They do not have the sass of the original A. B. Frost illustrations, but they are filled with strong interest and a great humor which serves the text well. This will be of great interest to school and public libraries as well as to storytellers as a source which gives new life to an American classic. Kay McPherson, Central Atlanta-Fulton Public Library
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.