Mabela the Clever

by Margaret Read MacDonald, Tim Coffey (Illustrator)

Overview

Pick of the Lists, ABA
A 2001 Parents' Choice Picture Book Silver Honor
Highly Commended Book–2002 Charlotte Zolotow Award Committee
Texas Library Association 2002 2 X 2 Reading List
Children's Literature Choice List 2002
Storytelling World Award-2002 Winner-Stories for Young Listeners
2001 Aesop Accolade, American Folklore Society
2003 Washington Children's Choice Master List

"MacDonald's retelling of this Limba tale is engineered for storytime success."—School Library Journal starred review

Mabela may be the smallest mouse in the village, but her father has taught her to be clever. And this cleverness comes in handy when the cat comes, inviting everyone to join the secret Cat Society. The mice line up, with Mabela at the front and the Cat at the back. They march into the forest, singing the secret Cat song and shouting FO FENG! Only clever Mabela realizes the Cat is up to no good!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807549049
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Margaret Read MacDonald is a children's librarian turned storyteller who travels the world sharing tales. Her many picture book retellings include The Boy from the Dragon Palace, Little Rooster’s Diamond Button, and Mabela the Clever. When not traveling, she lives near Seattle, Washington.

Tim Coffey's work as an illustrator includes two acclaimed picture books: Red Berry Wool and Mabela the Clever, an ABA Pick of the Lists. He received a BFA in Illustration from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He lives in New Hampshire.

Editorial Reviews

PreS-Gr 2-MacDonald's retelling of this Limba tale is engineered for storytime success. The silly mice in Mabela's village are hunted by one clever cat. Thankfully, Mabela is pretty clever herself compared to most of her peers. When the cat invites the mice to join her "secret Cat Society," they can hardly believe their luck. All they have to do is lead the cat into the forest, sing at the top of their lungs, and never look back. Because she is the smallest mouse, Mabela is the first in line. With every loud refrain, however, she notices substantial evidence that fewer and fewer mice seem to be singing and marching behind her. Remembering her wise father's advice for survival when she is "out and about," Mabela manages to save her friends and leave the treacherous cat tangled in thorns. MacDonald prefaces the story with brief background information about the oral tradition in Limba culture and suggests an original song and a game to encourage creative interaction. Coffey's thatch-strewn paintings, rendered in acrylic on watercolor paper textured with gesso, feature lots of visibly clueless, wide-eyed mice, and his cat oozes predatory shrewdness to the very end.-Catherine T. Quattlebaum, DeKalb County Public Library, Atlanta, GA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Pick of the Lists, ABA
A 2001 Parents' Choice Picture Book Silver Honor
Highly Commended Book–2002 Charlotte Zolotow Award Committee
Texas Library Association 2002 2 X 2 Reading List
Children's Literature Choice List 2002
Storytelling World Award-2002 Winner-Stories for Young Listeners
2001 Aesop Accolade, American Folklore Society
2003 Washington Children's Choice Master List

"Folklorist MacDonald retells this cautionary tale from the Limba people of Sierra Leone with a zesty panache present from the opening lines…From tone to pace, MacDonald's choices here are right on the money: this is a cautionary tale that will be rip-roaring fun to tell, listen to, and act out. The father mouse's words of wisdom bear reiteration, and the short song/chant demands repeating."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"The energetic text is trademark MacDonald written purely to be read aloud, and punctuated by a chant that invites children to join in. Coffey's saturated acrylics depict a vaguely African anthropomorphized world where animals live in grass huts. Bright borders set off the text blocks, and occasionally frame a detail, such as a tiny tongue sneaking out to lick a delicate chop when the cat greets the eager mice."—Kirkus Reviews

"Mabela, the littlest mouse, has been taught to be clever by her father. When that cat cooks up a scheme to trap the mice, it is up to Mabela to save herself and her friends. Will she remember her father's words of wisdom in time? Tim Coffey's illustrations defintely bring this African tale to life with bright colors and cute animals. I loved Mabela's buckteeth."—Pick of the Lists, ABA

"MacDonald's spry retelling of an African folktale, in which a mouse imparts the importance of using all the senses, is alight with humor…Coffey plays up the comedy in his subtly exaggerated illustrations. Cat's sharply angular face and elongated oval eyes make an amusing visual contrast to the plump, google-eyed, multi-colored mice."—Publishers Weekly

"MacDonald's retelling of this Limba tale is engineered for storytime success."—School Library Journal starred review

From the Publisher