J. J. Reneaux (1955–2000)

This book is a collection of tales about animals and how they helped people, or taught their peers valuable lessons. The stories in this book are cute, interesting, and have great lessons. I most appreciated the titles of each story as the lineage or heritage was listed below. It was great imagining the story "How Miz Gator Lost Her Pea-Green Suit" being told by African-Americans and the story of "looking for trouble" being taught this way for so many years to multiple generations. The writing is detailed and reads quickly. Sometimes you can infer what plot twists might lay ahead and start to look for messages. The writing is also specific to those southern groups of people and the dialogue often reflects how they sounded. The use of onomatopoeias and slag make the stories rich and there a glossary in the back in case you run into a term you are unfamiliar with. I can see this book making a great bedtime story book and the use of voices and the illustrations can engage audiences of all ages.… (mehr)