Creighton University

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  Daisy sees the greenest grass ever on the other side of the log that acts as a bridge.  She meets a differently colored goat and they lock horns on the log.  After they both fall, they apologize and realize that "it is better to yield than to get hurt in a silly fight."  

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  "The Silkworm is weaving silk for Princess Lioness, but the arrogant Spider makes fun of her," as the back cover summarizes.  As is typical in a fable, we have here a question of a verbal putdown.  The silkworm answers in terms of creating beautiful lasting art vs making a quick and dirtiy trap.  Originally printed in 2015.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  The villager here at first thinks, when he finds the huge golden egg, that someone is playing a prank on him.  He is ready to throw it away when he reconsiders.  "But as the villager grew richer and richer, his greed increased as well."  This version is unusual in not mentioning a spouse.  Originally printed in 2015.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  Harry the hare is a boaster.  Tutu the tortoise gets angry.  Harry says to himself along the way "Let me take a short nap."  Harry at the end is repentant.  He will not make fun of anyone again.  Originally printed in 2013.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  The two travellers here are a young and an older man.  The older one says "We must make sure that we stick together, and then I'm sure no harm willl come to us."  The two start running and the bear gives chase.  The old man urges the younger to take a stick and beat back the bear.  Then come the usual elements: the younger climbs a tree, and the older suddenly lies on the ground.  In this version, the bear himself declares "A bear never eats a dead person." In the end, the old man walks away and the younger man is sorry.  Originally printed in 2013.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  Several things are curious about this lively rendition of the traditional fable.  The artist has a good time with people's faces and particularly their eyes.  Ralph is rolling around laughing when they first come.  Some of these villagers bring muskets.  Storyteller and summarizer on the last page may see the story differently.  The former writes "There was no stopping Ralph, however.  Every time he was bored, every time the sun, the clouds, the birds and the bees couldn't entertain him, he would go back to his silly trick."  "Every time."  The summarizer writes on the back cover "He cried 'Wolf!' once.  He cried 'Wolf!' twice.  But what happened when he cried 'Wolf!' the third time?"  A final curiosity comes then from the summarizer: "Did people rush to help him?  Or they didn't?"  I have never heard an alternative question phrased that way.  Originally printed in 2013.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  Here the "dear little mouse" in the country does not have many friends.  His well-dressed cousin from town reacts negatively immediately and, apparently without further ado, they take off for the town.  The visual artist here does present a town rather than a city.  A male cook intrudes suddenly with a broom, a thud, and a swoosh.  Later a dog chases them back to the same hole.  In an unusual turn for this story, the country mouse then asks if this is not his cousin's home.  "Is this not your food?"  The town cousin answers "Oh, come now!  It doesn't matter if the house and food are not mine."  The last image has the country mouse lying out in the country.  "There is no place like home, sweet home."  Originally printed in 2013.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  The best of the illustrations here, I believe, has the fox getting a head start and coming very close to the grapes.  In fact, the artist offers a similar picture after the fox has decided that he has to give up.  Strange!  This version is also unusual in having the fox speak directly to the grapes: "You horrible sour things, I would not eat you even if you fell off that branch right into my mouth."  Also good is the final picture of the proud fox walking off with his nose up in the air.  Originally printed in 2015.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  I find it surprising that this contemporary version still uses the word "shadow" for "reflection."  In this version, the piece of meat in the water seems to the dog bigger than the piece in his mouth.  This dog barks as well as opening his mouth to snatch the second piece of meat.  The artist depicts a lively and emotional dog!  Originally printed in 2015.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  Several of the artist's images here are among the best I have seen at presenting a plausible picture of how a donkey in a lion's skin might frighten people.  In this version, hunters had let the skin out in the sun to dry.  The version seems to me careless in that the story gets close to its end before we learn that this donkey belongs to the washerman, who beats the animal mercilessly when the ploy is discovered.  The fox had called the donkey names previously, and so the donkey has a special stake in vindicating himself.  He thus tries to roar to scare the fox.  That "roar" gives him away.  Originally printed in 2015.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  The visual artist here uses geometric shapes for animals' heads and gives them large eyes.  The written and illustrated versions differ on whether the ants are carrying their future food on their heads.  Again, the writer has the grasshopper first meet an ant as the latter labors carrying a grain of barley.  The visual artist has him without any burden.  The writer repeats the phrase "toiling and moiling."  In winter, the grasshopper leads the pleading ant into her warm home and feeds him.  The latter responds "I understand now, my friend, it is best to prepare for the days of necessity."  In the spring, the two work together to collect food for the chilly months.  As they do so, they sing together.  Originally printed in 2013.

Sixteen heavy pages fully illustrated in color.  10" x 10¾".  The front-cover image, repeated on the title-page, is wonderfully apt: the crow scratches his head.  That image does not appear in the tellling of the story.  Both the verbal and the visual artist here are careful to have the jug embedded in the ground, so that tipping it proves an unrealistic idea.  In the end the crow says to himself "Yes, hard work really pays."  Originally printed in 2015.