The+Adventures+of+Brer+Rabbit+and+Friends

The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and Friends

 **Title:** **//The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and Friends//**
** Author: Karima Amin ** ** Summary: ** This collection retells ten of the classic African American tales about Brer Rabbit and his friends/enemies. The characters are constantly up to no good, trying to fool eachother. Brer Rabbit is the cunning main character of all the adventures that happens to be persistently in a game of “catch-me-if-you-can” with the supporting characters of Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit, Brer Weasel, Brer Terrapin, Brer Bear, and all of his other friends. They are continuously playing tricks on him trying to outsmart him, while he remains busy trying to outwit them just for the fun of it.
 * Grade(s): Kindergarten –3rd **
 * Topic/Theme: Classic American Folktales, Playing Tricks On and Trying to Outsmart Others **
 * Gender Interest: All Genders **

The stories reflect the "life lessons" we all struggle to learn when growing up, such as paying attention, getting along with your neighbors, using your natural abilities, and to take time to laugh. The book also includes insightful background on the historical context of these classic African American tales and their even-earlier African origins, as well as having a detailed map of Brer Rabbit's world, complete with footprints indicating the habitats of the animal characters profiled in the margins; extensive information about real rabbits, foxes, and other animals used as characters; a section on the history of African and African-American folk tales and slavery; and sections on the African storytelling tradition.
 * About the Book: ** While the book’s language still contains it’s original appeal, it adapts the stories’ concepts to be familiar to today’s children. The colorful and active illustrations are unlike the originals as they too, omit racial stereotypes. For example, the original “tar baby” depicted a little African American child, where this book illustrates the same image as a faceless blob of tar.
 * Quizzes, Related Sites, Vocabulary, Crossword Puzzles, and Author/Illustrator Information: ** []

