1992 The Town Rat and the Country Rat. By Jean de la Fontaine. A Coloring Book. Illustrations by Mary-Margaret Dupin.
This class-assignment creative work matches lively computer-generated designs of mice with a summary of La Fontaine's fable. One of a kind!
1964? the tortoise and the hare/the little white duck. 45 rpm Mr. Pickwick Extended Play Record. No singers or composer acknowledged. Woodbury, NY: Pickwick International. $.05 at flea market, 1991.
TH lasts 3:21. It seems like vintage "Hit Paraders" music: cute, silly, bubbly, harmless. If there were not a zip code on the jacket, I would have guessed the date of production to be 10 years earlier. The rabbit in this version keeps thinking he can always catch up, and he enjoys many diversions.
1985? The Tortoise and the Hare/Hill of Fire. Reading Rainbow. TH: illustration by Janet Stevens. Narrated by Gilda Radner. Hosted by Levar Burton. Hill of Fire: Author Thomas P. Lewis. Illustrator Joan Sandin. Hosted by Levar Burton. Stamford, CT: Children's Video Library 1555. $9.50 from George Minkalis, Round Lake, IL, through Ebay, Nov., '00.
This is a complex video that brings together many things, even within the separate stories that it presents. Burton is training for a bicycle race, and the story supports him. Little children give various morals. The whole TH segment lasts perhaps twelve minutes. The TH segment proper within that uses stills from Stevens' book. The one time that I notice something done perhaps for the video presentation occurs when the sleeping rabbit opens his eye.
2008 The Tortoise and the Hare: The Rematch of the Century. DVD. The Jim Henson Company. Alliance Films: The Weinstein Company. 76 minutes. $10 from Maud Bourgeeais, Rosemere, Quebec, Nov., '09.
Here is a feature film using the voices of Jay Leno, Dannuy Glover, and others. Special features include "How to Draw a Character" and "The Making of Tortoise vs. Hare." I thoroughly enjoyed watching the whole animated feature. It pits the families, now neighbors, against each other in the "Mount Impossible Adventure Race" fifteen years after Walter Tortoise beat Murray Hare. Murray keeps running into the dreaded "Slow and steady wins the race" statement. The adventure race has many twists and turns, including a surprise winner. The start and finish are provided by two stork sports announcers, Rex and Bob, who report throughout. Good fun, based on the fable. Part of a trilogy including "Goldilocks" and "Three Pigs and a Baby."
1930? 7" white plate from Sarreguemines, France. Inside a 1.5" rim there is a representation of Grandville's TH. The front carries two inscriptions: "Fables de la Fontaine" and "9. Le Lievre et la Tortue." The back has a "Digoin" stamp.
The tortoise is just crossing a visible finish wire as the hare, with head averted to the side, tries to overtake him. A mouse is perched on a rock at the finish line.
1930? 7" white plate from Sarreguemines, France. Inside a 1.5" rim there is a portrayal of TH. The front carries two inscriptions: "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Le Lievre et la Tortue." The back has, in sketchy form, "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Digoin/Sarreguemines, France." $20 from Dany Wolfs, Roesalare, Belgium, Sept., '00. One extra exemplar.
The conception of the scene here has, by contrast with other plates in the series, nothing to do with Grandville's original. The plate presents a dark and busy scene. The scene itself, and particularly the tortoise are not easy to take in. A mouse perches clumsily at the upper right.
1990 Landscape colored painting greeting card. The front shows a dressed female hare riding supine and perhaps asleep on a large tortoise. Above them is written "Enjoy the slow times, they are a gift." Blank inside. Paris Bottman. Lithographed in USA. Salt Lake City, UT: Bottman Design 125 30132. Gift, '94.
Even if it is a run-on sentence with a comma splice, it is a wonderful sentiment! The languid posture of the hare is perfect for this scene and message.
1980? Arthur Rackham TH greeting card. 5" x 7". La Jolla, CA: Green Tiger Press. Gift of Ann Findley at Meandaur, June, '93.
Here is the delightful scene showing not only the tortoise and hare but others who witnessed the bet. There is no message inside the card. The publishing information on the back indicates that the same illustration is available as a postcard. Here the image is pasted onto the front of a simple card.
2006 The Tortoise and the Hare & the Lion and the Mouse. Greensboro, NC: Once Upon a Tune: Kindermusik International. $3.95 from Chuck Wolfe through eBay, April, '08.
This CD accompanies a book. Let me repeat what I wrote there. Here is a creative effort spreading into new directions. The two stories are well done. Eventually the other animals refuse to race Hare. Cocky Hare proclaims "But I love to race! Racing is what I do best! One of you should race me!" Tortoise, when Hare laughs at his offer, responds "I know I'm slow. So what do I have to lose? I'm the only one you haven't raced--and I just might surprise you!" Hare rests near the goal line at the stream. After the race, Hare proves to be a good loser. LM is similarly well told. The picture of the laughing lion may be the best, and it is well echoed by the laughing of the other lions when he returns to the pride. The book's special gifts go in two directions. First, each of the three pages of either story folds out. The pages themselves are more like thin plastic than paper. The foldout is there to receive any of the twenty-nine stickers of animals in various poses and positions. The scenes are well conceived for arrangement of the figures: three portions of the path in TH and various parts of the savannah for LM. The folding work on the foldout pages is particularly good. Each time, the foldover picture is perfectly integrated with the scene it covers. Secondly, there is a fine CD that comes with the book. TH has three segments of narration punctuated by three songs. The musical work is good, from orchestral backup to animals' voices. LM's spoken narrative is especially fine for the mouse's responses to the lion's statements. Again, there are three songs.
