Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

by Julius Lester, Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)

Overview

The classic tales of Brer Rabbitt with a contemporary twist, by the award winning author Julius Lester and illustrated by award-winning Jerry Pinkney!

Whether he is besting Brer Fox or sneaking into Mr. Man's garden, Brer Rabbit is always teaching a valuable lesson. These classic tales are full of wit, humor, and creativity, and Julius Lester brings an added contemporary sense to these forty-eight timeless stories.

"Lester juxtaposes a contemporary voice and settings (like shopping malls) with some dialect in these "wonderfully funny folktales,"—Publisher's Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141303475
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	01/01/1999
Series:	Tales of Uncle Remus
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	760L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Julius Lester was an award-winning and critically acclaimed author of books for both adults and children. He won numerous awards, including the Coretta Scott King Award, the Newbery Honor Medal, the American Library Association Notable Book award, the New York Times Out­standing Book award, the Caldecott Honor Book award, and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His novel To Be a Slave is the first Newbery Medal Honor Book by a Black author. He taught for over three decades at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he was awarded all three of the university’s most prestigious faculty awards. Mr. Lester passed away in 2018 at the age of seventy-eight.

Jerry Pinkney was one of America’s most admired children’s book illustrators and illustrated more than one hundred picture books. He won the Caldecott Medal and five Caldecott Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five New York Times Best Illustrated Awards, and many other prizes and honors. He illustrated two books written by his wife of sixty-one years, Gloria Jean: Back Home and The Sunday Outing. Jerry Pinkney passed away in 2021 at the age of eighty-two. Learn more about his life and legacy at JerryPinkneyStudio.com.

Editorial Reviews

Lester juxtaposes a contemporary voice and settings (like shopping malls) with some dialect in these "wonderfully funny folktales," said PW. "For many purists, though, it will not replace the original stories." Ages 8-up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 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

School Library Journal

Like fairy tales and fables, THE TALES OF UNCLE REMUS are classic stories retold periodically to introduce them to a new generation. Julius Lester’s version does a wonderful job of recreating the characters we know and love--Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, Brer Bear, Mr. Man, etc.--while adding humor and contemporary commentary to the traditional stories, such as “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.” Lester captures the slow rhythm of rural Southern life--lazy hot days and cool, lively evenings--as the animals strive to coexist. Lester’s characterizations, with just the right combination of Southern dialect and Black English, bring the quick-witted Brer Rabbit, and his friends and foes, to life in these timeless stories. W.L.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

APR/MAY 02 - AudioFile