Title of the work
Country of the First Edition
Country/countries of popularity
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
Vivian French & Korky Paul, Aesop’s Funky Fables. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1997, 76 pp.
ISBN
Genre
Picture books
Target Audience
Children (also crossover)
Cover
We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.
Author of the Entry:
Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Miriam Riverlea, University of New England, mriverlea@gmail.com
Daniel A. Nkemleke, University of Yaoundé 1, nkemlekedan@yahoo.com
Vivian French
, b. 1945
(Author)
Vivian French (1945) was born in Exeter, England, and was educated at the University of Exeter. She worked in children’s theatre, both as an actor and a writer. She lives in Bristol, England, and has written dozens of picture books and novels for children.
Bio prepared by Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au
Korky Paul
[of Hamish Vigne Christie Paul] , b. 1951
(Illustrator)
Korky Paul (real name Hamish Vigne Christie Paul) grew up in in Zimbabwe and trained in an art school in Durban, South Africa. He moved to Greece in the 1970s and began working for a publishing house, illustrating books to teach Greek children English. He was trained at the California Institute of the Arts. He went on to work on further children's illustration projects in Los Angeles and London before settling in Oxford, UK. He developed the hugely successful Winnie the Witch series with Oxford University Press. He illustrated Aesop's Funky Fables (author Vivian French, Puffin Books, 1999). He has won a number of prestigious awards, including the Kate Greenaway Award and the Red House Children's Book Award. His style is frequently energetic and humorous.
Source:
Official website (accessed: June 26, 2018).
Bio prepared by Sonya Nevin, University of Roehampton, sonya.nevin@roehampton.ac.uk
Summary
The work is a selection of Aesop’s Fables, retold for children in verse and prose, using rap and humorous techniques. All retellings have humorous illustrations, in a mixture of watercolours and line drawings.
The Fox and the Crow (8–13) is told in verse, using rap techniques of repetition and other poetic techniques: e.g.,
‘Brother Crow
Puffed up his feathers with pride
Puffed up his feathers
Puffed up
Puffed
And opened his beak wide.
“CAW!” said the crow
“CAW!”
“Ho ho!” said the fox
(Fox fox fox fox fox fox fox)
As the cheese fell down to the ground.
“THANKS FOR THE CHEESE!” said the fox . . .’
The Boy who cried Wolf (14–23) is told in prose.
The Lion and the Mouse (24–31) is told in verse, from the perspective of the mouse, thanking the lion for letting him go then returning the favour ‘And little/By little/By Little/I will chew right through/All the ropes/Until you/Are free/Like me’ (30)
The Fox and the Stork (32–39) is told in prose, of two old friends (adversaries) inviting one another to dinner. “I may be slow/ (Stump stump)/But I am steady./ Steady./ Steady.’ (46)
The Hare and the Tortoise (40–47) is told in poetry, as a dialogue between the Hare and the Tortoise.
The Jackdaw and the Pigeons (48–53) is told in prose.
The Dog and the Bone (54–56) is told in poetry with sound-effects: ‘GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!” said dog./ ‘MINE!’/And he snarled at the dog GRRRRRRRRRRRR!/And he snapped at the dog/ SNAP!!!! / SPLASH!!!!!/ No bone.’
The Bat, the Bramble and the Cormorant (56–65) told in prose.
The Wolf and the Crane (66–73) told in poetry.
The Traveller and the Bear (74–76) told in poetry.
Analysis
This book retells selected Aesop’s fables, with an emphasis on the situational humour, come-uppance, and revenge aspects, and with a seeming goal to be read out loud (as evidenced by the many sound-effects and repetitions in the storytelling). It anchors the stories firmly in an oral tradition. The illustrations are deliberately comic in style.
