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What can we learn from a lazy lion, or an eagle who's afraid to fly, or an angry ant who eats an anaconda? Plenty, if Newbery Honor author Julius Lester (To Be a Slave) has any say in the matter. In these six highly alliterative fables, Lester creates some of the silliest critters ever to have walked (or flown or swum) this earth. Adalbert the alligator, for example, decides one day that... More

What can we learn from a lazy lion, or an eagle who's afraid to fly, or an angry ant who eats an anaconda? Plenty, if Newbery Honor author Julius Lester (To Be a Slave) has any say in the matter. In these six highly alliterative fables, Lester creates some of the silliest critters ever to have walked (or flown or swum) this earth. Adalbert the alligator, for example, decides one day that he's fed up with the heat in his swamp. ("It was so hot the frogs had to watch a National Geographic special to remember how to hop. It was so hot mosquitoes drank lemonade.") So Adalbert, after much ado and bartering with the birds for directions, moves to Vermont, where he is startled to discover what happens when the seasons change, but pleased to meet Bertice, a bear who doesn't seem to care that Adalbert is an alligator, and allows him to hibernate and hang out with her. "Since neither of them knew they weren't supposed to be doing what they were doing, they continued doing what they weren't supposed to be doing, and probably still are." The morals of this story are: (1) You are what you think you are and not what others think you aren't, and (2) When you're in Vermont, watch out for the alligator. Imagine five more equally absurd yet strangely wise and definitely wonderful fables and there you have it: Ackamarackus. Emilie Chollat's acrylic and collage illustrations are sheer, brilliant delight. (Ages 5 to 9) --Emilie Coulter

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