Fast Five Fiction: Folk Tales & Fables

It's Friday and time for Fast Five Fiction! Each week I share five fiction books: new books, notable books, books around a common theme. Our summer reading theme this year is Adventure Begins at your Library and we've got a ton of great books for readers of all ages. Each week we're adventuring through a different genre in children's department. This weeks theme is fables and folk tale so that's what we're sharing today!

Click the title to be directed to the book in our catalog. Book descriptions are from Goodreads. 

Aesop's Fables for Little Children by Susanna Davidson

A delightful collection of six stories, with lively retellings and colorful artwork by Columbian illustrator, John Joven. A perfect first introduction to Aesop for little children. Stories include well-known classics The Lion and the Mouse, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse and The Ant and the Grasshopper.

Anansi and the Golden Pot by  Taiye Selasi

Award-winning author of Ghana Must Go, Taiye Selasi, reimagines the story of Anansi, the much-loved trickster, for a new generation. Kweku has grown up hearing stories about the mischievous spider Anansi. He is given the nickname Anansi by his father because of his similarly cheeky ways. On a holiday to visit his beloved Grandma in Ghana, Anansi the spider and Anansi the boy meet, and discover a magical pot that can be filled with whatever they want. Anansi fills it again and again with his favorite red-red stew, and eats so much that he feels sick. Will he learn to share this wonderful gift?

This charming retelling of a West African story teaches readers about the dangers of greed, and the importance of being kind. Tinuke Fagborun's colorful illustrations bring the magic and wonder of the tale to life. When you've finished sharing the story, you can also find out more about the origins of Anansi folktales. This is a beautiful storybook that little ones will treasure forever.

Fables by Arnold Lobel

Winner of the Caldecott Medal

A pig flying through marshmallow clouds? A camel pirouetting through the desert? Where else could a reader find such marvelous things but in a fable? From the author-illustrator behind beloved Frog and Toad, Arnold Lobel, comes a collection of humorous, silly fables that will delight readers young and old.

The Tale of the Mandarin Duck: A Modern Fable by Bette Midler

How do you get people to appreciate what is right in front of them? In The Tale of the Mandarin Duck, it takes a mysterious, beautiful duck and a clear-eyed kid to point out the obvious! Bette Midler's distinctive voice joins striking photos of the real duck by Michiko Kakutani and charming black-and-white drawings by Joana Avillez. This book will have readers of all ages coming back to visit the fantastical interpretation of New York City and its odd ducks--both feathered and human.

An afterword by Ms. Kakutani adds details to the facts behind this one-of-a-kind story of the Mandarin Duck.

Once a Mouse .... A Fable Cut in Wood by Marcia Brown

Marcia Brown retells an Indian fable from the Hitopadesa in this Caldecott Medal-winning tale of a mouse who becomes a tiger.

When a small mouse's life is threatened by large jungle predators, a kindly hermit uses magic to change him into a cat, a dog, and a majestic tiger. But the proud tiger must suffer the consequences when he becomes ungrateful and forgets his humble origins. Marcia Brown's magical woodcuts bring this Indian fable to life with the mastery that won her a second Caldecott Medal.

Happy Friday and happy reading!