Robbins Library: Bingo Square: Fables

Press release from Robbins Library:

July 19, 2021

Are you participating in Adult Summer Reading and stuck on the Fables bingo square? We’ve got some suggestions for you! 

Reach for the classics, browse children’s titles or consider a more contemporary tale. These stories feature animals behaving as humans and are meant to teach the reader a lesson. 

Links go to the catalog so you can see if the books are available now and request them if they’re not.

Fifty fables of La Fontaine

Although he had a degree to practice law, La Fontaine does not seem to have done so but, rather, spent his life in Paris dependent on aristocratic patrons. His principal contribution to literature was his 12 books of Fables, to which he devoted 30 years of his life. They were published from 1668 to 1694 and are universally appreciated in France by children and adults alike. In drawing on a tradition of the fable going back to Aesop, La Fontaine created a portrait of human life and French society through the representations of animals. His work is marked by great insight into human moral character, while it preaches the value of the middle road. (Bowker Author Biography)

Arctic Aesop’s fables : twelve retold tales  by Susi Gregg Fowler“Necessity is the mother of invention.” “Practice what you preach.” Join the wolf, polar bear, raven, and many more as they learn (and teach!) many of life’s invaluable lessons in this arctic retelling of the classic Aesop’s Fables. A ringed seal discovers that the truth can be a powerful friend; an Arctic Ground Squirrel learn to be careful what she wishes for; and the porcupine knows that slow and steady wins the race. With beautiful illustrations by Alaskan painter Jim Fowler, the twelve fables here are uniquely set in the landscape of the Alaskan wilderness.The complete tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler HarrisA classic book compiling the complete tales from eight books, with the original illustrations. It’s been more than a hundred years since the publication of the first Uncle Remus book, and it was in 1955 that all of the delightful and inimitable tales of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Wolf were gathered together in one volume. All of the animal tales from eight books are here, along with the illustrations which originally accompanied them.

Tales of Kalila and Dimna : classic fables of IndiaThe tales of Kalila and Dimna originated almost 2000 years ago in a Sanskrit collection of animal stories called the Panchatantra, and have influenced modern fables from The Arabian Nights to The Canterbury Tales. Graced with Margaret Kilrenny’s beautiful illustrations, the first two books of the Panchatantra’s five are brilliantly rendered here by Ramsay Wood.

Tales of Kalila and Dimna : classic fables of India

Bingsop’s fables : little morals for big business by Stanley BingFrom celebrated business writer and Fortune columnist Stanley Bing, the bestselling author of What Would Machiavelli Do?, Throwing The Elephant, Sun Tzu is a Sissy, and more, comes a collection of playful fables poking fun at corporate archetypes while imparting useful and humorous lessons for anyone striving to make it big in big business.(Goodreads.com)

Fables for our time and famous poems illustrated by James Thurber“These tiny stories, in which a wide variety of animals show us humans how we really are, are completely uproarious.” –The Saturday Review of LiteratureSquirrel seeks chipmunk : a modest bestiary by David SedarisFeaturing David Sedaris’s unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life. (Goodreads.com)

This press release was produced by Robbins Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.