The Tortoise & the Hare

This article is about the picture book. For the original fable, see The Tortoise and the Hare.

The Tortoise & the Hare

First edition
Author	Aesop
Illustrator	Jerry Pinkney
Language	English
Genre	Children's literature, picture book, Fable
Published	2013 (Little, Brown and Company)
Publication place	USA
Media type	Print (hardback, paperback)
Pages	40 (unpaginated)
ISBN	9780316183567
OCLC	880941023

The Tortoise & the Hare is a 2013 wordless picture book of Aesop's classic fable and is illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a tortoise and a hare that compete in a foot race with the tortoise surprisingly winning.

Reception

School Library Journal, in a review of The Tortoise & the Hare, wrote "Pinkney has created yet another stunning interpretation of a classic tale in this virtually wordless picture book. .. Pinkney takes care to show Tortoise overcoming challenges and Hare demonstrating good sportsmanship and healthy competition."^[1]

Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews all gave starred reviews.^[2][3][4]

The Horn Book Magazine wrote "Pinkney brilliantly illustrates another well-known Aesop fable." and concluded "The richly detailed illustrations are lively and humorous, but what makes this retelling particularly ingenious is Pinkney's use of the oft-quoted moral in a cumulative progression both to recount the action and provide dramatic tension: "Slow / slow and / slow and steady / slow and steady wins / slow and steady wins the / slow and steady wins the race!""^[5]

The Tortoise & the Hare has also been reviewed by The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books,^[6] and Children's Book and Media Review.^[7]

References

1. "The tortoise & the hare". Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
2. "The Tortoise & the Hare (starred review)". Publishers Weekly. PWxyz LLC. August 19, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2017. Caldecott winner Pinkney's magnificently illustrated version of this famous fable gives the race the excitement of an Olympic event. .. Pinkney's portraits are so lifelike that the animals appear to breathe, and they present a peaceable kingdom in which predators and prey live in harmony.
3. Pinkney, Jerry (October 2013). The Tortoise & the Hare (starred review). Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780316183567. Retrieved March 5, 2017. The tortoise may have won the race, but the real winner here is the listening and viewing audience. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
4. "The Tortoise & the Hare (starred review)". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Media LLC. August 14, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2017. With luminous mixed media pictures, a short, carefully meted-out text and a Southwestern U.S. setting, Pinkney (The Lion and the Mouse, 2009) takes on another of Aesop's fables—marvelously.
5. "The tortoise & the hare: Reviews". catalog.wccls.org. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
6. Deborah Stevenson (January 2014). "Pinkney, Jerry The Tortoise & the Hare". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 67 (5). The Johns Hopkins University Press: 277. doi:10.1353/bcc.2014.0036. S2CID 140738695. While this is an oft-retold tale in picture-book land, Pinkney's version is faithful to the original while offering a lively and imaginative take on the ancient Greek version of "You snooze, you lose."
7. Sydnee Burr (August 2015). "The Tortoise and the Hare". Children's Book and Media Review. 36 (4). Brigham Young University. Retrieved March 5, 2017. Because the progression of the story requires creative thought from the reader, it sparks growth as well as the stretching of the reader's mind.