Animal Tales from America, the West Indies and Africa

For thousands of years, people have been telling each other stories, passing them from generation to generation. Some of the popular and enduring tales in the world feature tricksters — wonderfully inventive characters who outsmart others and use their wits to prevail in even the most difficult circumstances.

The eleven stories in this book present a fascinating cast of animal tricksters, gathered from the storytelling ring of the slave trade during the American Plantation Era. A fiddling alligator is outsmarted by a rabbit; a chameleon is tricked by a spider and a lizard into transforming himself into a boat; a turtle outwits a leopard and rides him like a horse.

Illustrations by Barry Moser

New Paperback

The Blue Sky Press
An Imprint of Scholastic, Inc.
Illustrations © 1997 by Barry Moser