The Hare and the Tortoise - Traditional Literature

The Hare and the Tortoise, retold by Caroline Castle and illustrated by Peter Weevers was slightly different than the story I remembered hearing as a child. While it was the same storyline, this version had a lot of embellishments along the way. For instance, in this story the tortoise liked to read and was in the middle of writing a book, two pages per day. Hare liked to run and could not understand why tortoise liked reading, so he challenged him to a race. Everyone in town got ready for the race; there were tickets sold and there was even a concession stand! On the day of the big race, rabbit starts off so fast that he can't even see tortoise behind him. He decides to lay down on a grassy hill and soon, he falls asleep. He dreams that he is the fastest runner in all the land. When he finally awakes, tortoise is only a few steps from the finish line. Hare gets up and tries to run and beat him, but he was too late and cannot beat Tortoise. In the end, the moral of the story is "slow and steady wins the race".

I think that this story is worth having in my classroom. However, I do not think that I would have this copy. I felt that it was too long and I did not enjoy it very much. I think that a simpler version would have gotten the moral out more clearly.