Van Dyke Parks

I can still remember the pleasure I got from my Dad reading me the "Uncle Remus" stories when I was very young. By the time I was able to read them myself I wasn't so fond of them. They were written in the Gullah dialect of the Old South which was hard for an eight-year-old to decipher. The five stories in this book are nicely adapted to more modern English, while still keeping the flavor of the original tales, and I loved getting reacquainted with Brer Rabbit and his cohorts. The artwork by Barry Mosher adds tremendously to the whole. I should think the kids of today would enjoy them just as much as we did. They are certainly better than Saturday morning cartoons.… (more)

This book is about a rabbit named Brer rabbit. Brer Rabbit goes around goes around this town trying to outsmart every one. Brer fox and Brer Wolf always try to capture him but Brer rabbit always seem to outsmart them. But sometime Brer Rabbit always runs across someone that tricks him end the end.
I really didn't like this book because it teaches children that tricking someone is the way of doing things. I did like how they gave the animals human like characteristic because it gives the child a chance to us their imagination. I also love the old fashion drawing of the characters.
An extension that I would use in my classroom will be to ask the child to make up a short story of how they would help out Brer fox and Brer wolf.… (more)