This lavish, highly-acclaimed rendition of Aesop's most beloved fable about grit, hope, and resilience is brought to life by Caldecott Medal-winning artist Jerry Pinkney.   This nearly wordless companion to the Caldecott Medal-winning The Lion & the Mouse is Jerry Pinkney's most stunning masterpiece yet. Even the slowest tortoise can defeat the quickest hare, and even the proudest hare can learn a timeless lesson from the most humble tortoise: Slow and steady wins the race ! Here is a superbly rendered journey from starting line to finish that embodies the bravery, perseverance, and humility we can all find inside ourselves.   Don't miss these other classic retellings by Jerry Pinkney: The Little Mermaid The Lion & the Mouse The Grasshopper & the Ants The Three Billy Goats Gruff Little Red Riding Hood Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star PreS-Gr 3–Following up on his superb rendition of The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown, 2009), Pinkney has created yet another stunning interpretation of a classic tale in this virtually wordless picture book. Endpapers establish the desert setting with a map of the course through the cacti and rocky region of the American Southwest. Tortoise and Hare, each sporting a bandana, are joined by their animal friends at the starting line for the famous race. Fox in his broad-brimmed hat gives them their marks, gets them set, and off they go as Hare bounds away, leaving Tortoise behind in a trail of dust. Pinkney uses watercolor, colored pencil, and pastel paintings to create vibrant characters that are in colorful contrast to the tans and natural browns of the desert. Long horizontal lines and Hare leaping off the page propel the story–and the race–ever forward. The limited text, used sparingly but extremely effectively, reinforces the theme of the story–that the journey is as important as the ultimate goal–and builds one word at a time: “slow,” “slow and,” “slow and steady” until finally the race is won to the cheers and high-fives of the supportive spectators. Pinkney takes care to show Tortoise overcoming challenges and Hare demonstrating good sportsmanship and healthy competition. An artist's note explains the creative process and motivation for retelling the well-known tale. This spectacular success is certain to become a classic in its own right.–Kristine M. Casper, Huntington Public Library, NYα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. *Starred Review* After his Caldecott triumph with The Lion & the Mouse (2009), Pinkney returns to Aesop for inspiration, this time setting the familiar story in the American Southwest. The endpapers indicate the race route around a cacti-laden barnyard, and the title page shows our titular competitors setting the challenge, before taking off, cheered on by a group of avid animal spectators. The fable plays out as expected, and Pinkney alternates the action between the tortoise’s diligence and the hare’s overconfidence. To mark the tortoise’s progress, Pinkney unveils the moral of the story cumulatively, beginning with just the word slow and adding another word to the phrase at each milestone, until, at contest’s end, the entire phrase “slow and steady wins the race” celebrates the tortoise’s victory. The tortoise sports an engineer’s cap and kerchief; the hare, a checkered vest; and most of the other animals, a variety of town and country clothing, adding a note of homespun vibrancy to Pinkney’s elegant watercolor paintings. Adjacent to an informative artist’s note, we see the hare tying a checkered flag about the tortoise’s neck, and the final endpapers depict a victory party. The tortoise may have won the race, but the real winner here is the listening and viewing audience. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Pinkney took home the Caldecott Medal for The Lion & the Mouse, so expect lots of buzz about this companion picture book. Preschool-Grade 3. --Thom Barthelmess A 2014 ALSC Notable Children's Book A 2013 Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book A 2013 Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book A 2013 School Library Journal Best Children's Book A 2013 Booklist Editors' Choice Book A 2013 ABC Best Book for Children A 2013 Parents' Choice Awards Gold Award Winner A 2013 Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Multicultural Children's Book A 2014 Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Outstanding Book A 2014 Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison CCBC Choices Book An Autumn 2013 Kids' Indie Next List Pick * "[There is] a note of homespun vibrancy to Pinkney's elegant watercolor paintings....The tortoise may have won the race, but the real winner here is the listening and viewing audience."― Booklist, starred review * "Pinkney's magnificently illustrated version of this famous fable gives the race the excitement of an Olympic event."― Publishers Weekly, starred review * "Will engross