Fables (book)

Fables

Author	Arnold Lobel
Illustrator	Arnold Lobel
Country	United States
Genre	Children's picture book
Publisher	Harper & Row
Publication date	1980
ISBN	978-0-06-023973-2
OCLC	5829958
LC Class	PZ8.2.L6 Fab

Fables is a book by Arnold Lobel. Released by Harper & Row, it was the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1981.^[1] Publishers Weekly called the book, "the most remarkable of the author-illustrator's 60-plus, bestselling award winners."^[2]

For each of the twenty fables Lobel's text occupies one page, with his colour illustration on the facing page. He gives a moral to each, but while the moral is genuine, the tone of the fables is cheerful and playful rather than moralistic. For instance, in the first fable a bed-loving crocodile admires the orderly pattern of flowers on his bedroom wallpaper. When confronted with the riot of flowers in Mrs. Crocodile's garden he retreats to his bed in distress, where he is comforted by the neat floral rows of the wallpaper. After that he seldom leaves his bed, becoming a sickly shade of green. The moral is, "Without a doubt, there is such a thing as too much order."

List of Fables

• The Crocodile in the Bedroom
• The Ducks and the Fox
• King Lion and the Beetle
• The Lobster and the Crab
• The Hen and the Apple Tree
• The Baboon's Umbrella
• The Frogs at the Rainbow's End
• The Bear and the Crow
• The Cat and his Visions
• The Ostrich in Love
• The Camel Dances
• The Poor old Dog
• Madame Rhinoceros and her Dress
• The Bad Kangaroo
• The Pig at the Candy Store
• The Elephant and His Son
• The Pelican and the Crane
• The Young Rooster
• The Hippopotamus at Dinner
• The Mouse at the Seashore
• The Crocodile in the land
• The Monkey in forest

References

1. American Library Association: Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present. URL accessed 27 May 2009.
2. according to the back cover of the book