Heide, Florence Parry and Van Clief,
Sylvia Worth Fables you Shouldn’t Pay Any Attention To, 95
pages. Atheneum (Simon), 2017 (republish from a 1978 edition). $17.
This book contains short stories that are the opposite of
fables, where the animal characters learn that traditionally ‘bad’ morals such
as lazy and greed, are actually helpful and lead to better outcomes. An example
of this is the squirrel who won’t share, while another squirrel does. Sharing
is typically a ‘good’ quality but in this case, the squirrel that shared died
because she didn’t have anything to eat once winter came. Features little
illustrations in green and gray scales.
As funny as this book was, I think that I would like to take a
higher road in the school library. Even if there are situations in real life
where it is true that it pays to be bad, I don’t want to be a part of promoting
that to young students. Nor do I want their parents to read the book and think
that was my intention. While it is true that there has to be negativity for a
plot to work, for readers to see mistakes and outcomes, there was a certain
smugness to the ‘wins’ in this book that left a sour taste.
EL(K-3) –NO. Stephanie Elementary School Librarian
& Author
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