Jean de La Fontaine

A bag of gold given to a poor but cheerful shoemaker by a rich man causes the cobbler so much worry that he returns it.

This is a unique celebration of that most beautiful and self-possessed of creatures--the cat. More than 50 poems are included, reflecting every feline mood: the comic, the aristocratic, the lazy, the cunning, the fierce, the inscrutable. Lovers of cats and lovers of poetry will be delighted by the wide-ranging nature of the collection by poets such as T.S. Elliot, Ted Hughes, W.B. Yeats, William Wordsworth, Edward Lear and many others. One of the most attractive features of the book is the choice of pictures. A stunning selection of drawings and paintings by such artists and illustrators as Renoir, Manet, Picasso, Hogarth, Cruikshank and Lear add to the charm of the verse, making this a book to be treasured by cat lovers everywhere.

The miller who tries to please everyone eventually decides he should have made up his own mind in the first place.

When the Sun and the North Wind observe the traveler below, they make a wager to see which one can make the man remove his coat. A simple version of the fable that says gentleness may conquer where force fails.

A retelling of the La Fontaine fable in which a small rat is the only animal capable of saving the life of the King of the Beasts.

book is in french

These wonderfully wrought moral tales will as easily charm children with bright and basic truths as they will delight adults drawn to their reflectively subtle, sophisticated facets of wit and wisdom.

Souvent teintées d'humour et porteuses d'une morale, les Fables furent publiées en 12 livres entre 1668 et 1694. Elles puisent essentiellement leur source chez d'autres fabulistes ou dans des récits populaires. Une sélection de près de 60 fables et une présentation de La Fontaine et de l'art de la fable.

9-10th grade

Sure of winning the race with a tortoise, a hare dawdles about to make it more fun.